TRANSPORT

Birmingham Airport

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to visit Birmingham airport on official business.

Tony McNulty: The Secretary of State has no plans to visit Birmingham airport in the near future. Ministers regularly visit all parts of the country, including the West Midlands and I visited Birmingham airport last summer.

East Midlands Airport

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he last met the Chief Executive of East Midlands airport.

Tony McNulty: Within the last six months, Ministers have met the Chief Executive of East Midlands airport and the Chief Executive of the Manchester Airports Group (which owns East Midlands airport).

EU Quick Start Programme

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what action the UK is taking to comply with EU Quick Start programme objectives in transport projects.

Kim Howells: The EU Quick Start programme comprises key projects, within existing Community programmes, that meet a set of criteria including readiness to start by end 2006 and impact on economic growth. There are two UK transport projects included in the programme. We are reviewing whether there are others that meet the criteria for inclusion.

Information Technology

Richard Allan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what cost savings have been made in his Department since the introduction of the Information Technology Procurement Centre of Excellence; and how these were calculated.

Tony McNulty: A Centre of Excellence was established within the Department for Transport in June 2003 to integrate the essential functions which underpin the successful delivery of all types of acquisition-based programmes and projects. As cost benefits will not accrue until improvements start to take effect, it is too early to measure cost savings. All Centres of Excellence are currently developing future plans and as part of this process measurement of savings will be defined.

Ministerial Travel

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he last travelled on the London Underground on official business.

Tony McNulty: The Secretary of State regularly travels by all modes of public transport. My right hon. Friend last travelled on London Underground in November.

Railway Platforms

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans Network Rail has to lengthen platforms at London commuter stations.

Kim Howells: Platform extensions are under way at Hollingbourne, Harrietsham and Charing, and extensions are planned at Braintree, Braintree Freeport, Cressing, White Notley, Harrow and Wealdstone, Bushey, Kings Langley, Apsley, Kernel Hempstead, Berkhamsted, Tring, Cheddington, Bletchley, Billingshurst, Portslade, West Norwood, Hampden Park, Lewes, Farnham, Virginia Water, Basingstoke, Ascot, Farncombe, Milford, Witley, Liphook, Liss, Petersfield, Bentley, Brockenhurst, Camberley, Princes Risborough, Beaconsfield, Gerrards Cross, High Wycombe, West Ruislip, South Ruislip, Wembley Stadium and Denham.

Railways

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many temporary speed restrictions are in force on Network Rail track.

Kim Howells: Network Rail advises that there are currently 548 temporary speed restrictions on the railway network. This compares to a peak of approximately 1,200 speed restrictions in February 2001.

Railways

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much public capital is allocated to the expansion of railway network capacity in the 10 Year Plan.

Kim Howells: The latest allocations of public spending in the 10 Year Plan are set out in "Delivering Better Transport: Progress Report", which was published in December 2002. The total amount of public expenditure allocated for railways is £33 billion. This is broken down as follows:
	
		
			  Amount (£ billion rounded) 
		
		
			 2001–02 2.1 
			 2002–03 2.8 
			 2003–04 3.8 
			 2004–05 3.8 
			 2005–06 4.3 
			 2006–07 4.2 
			 2007–08 3.6 
			 2008–09 2.9 
			 2009–10 2.7 
			 2010–11 2.8 
			 10 Year Plan total 33

Road Deaths

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many deaths have occurred on (a) the A316 between the end of the M3 and the first roundabout and (b) the M4 between junctions 4 and 1 in the last three years.

Kim Howells: There has been one fatal accident on the M4 between junction 4 and junction 1 in the three years from September 2000 to August 2003. This occurred on the westbound carriageway near junction 3.
	There were no fatal accidents on the A316 between the M3 at Sunbury Cross and the first roundabout, at its junction with the A312, in the same period.

Rural Bus Challenge

Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what criteria are used to determine which Rural Bus Challenge grants are awarded.

Tony McNulty: The main objective of the Rural Bus Challenge is to encourage cost-effective innovation in the provision or promotion by local authorities of rural bus transport. The full criteria used in assessing bids to the 2003 competition are set out in guidance to local authorities issued in July 2003, a copy of which has been placed in the Libraries of the House and on the Department's website.

Transport and Works Act

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the public inquiries into applications made under the Transport and Works Act 1992 held in each of the last five years; how soon after the inquiry the inspector made his report to him in each case; and how long it took him to reach a decision in each case.

David Jamieson: The following table shows the information requested in respect of applications made under the Transport and Works Act 1992 (TWA), with the exception of a few applications that will fall to be decided by the First Secretary of State, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry or the National Assembly for Wales. The variable periods for reaching a decision can partly be attributed to differences in the complexity of the cases. But in many cases this has been for reasons outside our control, such as the need to obtain more information from an applicant or the inspector, or the need for a related consent from another Department.
	
		
			 Year in whichpublic inquirystarted Title of Transport and Works Act 1992 application/order Period from end of inquiry to receipt of inspector's report (weeks) Period from receipt of inspector's report to decision (weeks) 
		
		
			 2003 Proposed London Gateway Logistics and Commercial Centre Order Inspector's report awaited — 
			 2003 Proposed Midland Metro (Birmingham City Centre Extension, etc.) Order Inspector's report awaited — 
			 2003 Proposed Docklands Light Railway (Woolwich Arsenal Extension) Order 11 Under consideration 
			 2003 Proposed River Tyne (Tunnels) Order 23 Under consideration 
			 2002 Proposed Greater Manchester (Leigh Busway) Order 22 Under consideration 
			 2002 Proposed Network Rail (West Coast Main Line) (No. 2) Order 26 Under consideration 
			 2001 The Greater Manchester (Light Rapid Transit System) (Trafford Depot) Order 9 30 
			 2001 Proposed Yorkshire Marina (Bridlington) (Works) Order 20 23 
			 2001 Proposed Fawley Branch Line Improvements Order 40 Under consideration 
			 2001 The Network Rail (West Coast Main Line) Order 30 38 
			 2000 The Railtrack (Shortlands Junction) Order 10 16 
			 2000 The London Underground (East London Line Extension) (No. 2) Order 5 43 
			 2000 The Docklands Light Railway (Silvertown and London City Airport Extension) Order 17 53 
			 2000 The Greater Manchester (Light Rapid Transit System) (Land Acquisition) Order 5 21 
			 2000 The Alconbury Airfield (Rail Facilities and Connection to East Coast Main Line) Order 76 35 
			 2000 The Chester Guided Busway Order 15 33 
			 2000 Proposed London International Freight Exchange and Proposed London International Freight Exchange (Variation) Orders—joint inquiry 27 15 
			 1999 The South Hampshire Rapid Transit Order 13 51 
			 1999 The Greater Manchester (Light Rapid Transit System) (Trafford Park) Order 11 51

Transport and Works Act

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many staff there are in his Department's Transport and Works Act processing unit, broken down by grade; and how many are (a) full-time, (b) part-time and (c) casual workers.

David Jamieson: The Department's Transport and Works Act Orders Unit currently consists of 13 members of staff. The following table breaks down the Unit's staff into the categories requested.
	
		
			 Grade Number of staff at grade Work pattern 
		
		
			 Grade 7 (PB6.1) 1 Full-time 
			 Senior Executive Officer (PB5.1) 2 Full-time 
			 Higher Executive Officer (PB4.3) 4 3Xfull-timeand 1Xpart-time 
			 Executive Officer PB3.2 4 Full-time 
			 Administrative Officer PB2.1 2 Full-time 
		
	
	The Unit will shortly reduce to 12 members of staff, upon the reallocation of one Administrative Officer to other departmental duties.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Animal Pathogens

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the relationship is between risk of spread of animal pathogens from a laboratory and the infectivity of the organism; and which pathogens are classified as group 2.

Ben Bradshaw: The risk of a particular organism escaping from a laboratory is not directly affected by its infectivity. Defra classifies animal pathogens in different groups for containment purposes, according to the risk they pose to the health of farmed livestock and poultry. The assessment of risk takes account of a number of factors, including the infectivity of the pathogen and the nature and seriousness of the disease it causes. The higher the level of risk posed by an animal pathogen, the higher the level of laboratory containment required for its safe handling. The following animal pathogens are currently classified as Defra group 2 pathogens:
	Anaplasma spp.
	Aujeszsky's disease virus
	Avian paramyxoviruses other than paramyxovirus 1 (PMV1) group
	Babesia bigemina
	Babesia bovis
	Babesia caballi
	Babesia equi
	Borna disease virus
	Bovine leukosis virus
	Bovine malignant catarrh virus (African type)
	Chlamydia psittaci
	Cowdria ruminatum
	Derzsky's disease virus (goose parvovirus)
	Echinococcus multilocularis
	Echinococcus granulosis
	Equine viral arteritis
	Getah virus
	Hypoderma bovis
	Hypoderma lineatum
	Maedi-visna virus
	Mycobacterium bovis
	Mycobacterium tuberculosis
	Mycobacterium africanus
	Mycobacterium kansasii
	Mycobacterium leprae
	Mycoplasma agalactiae
	Mycoplasma capricolum sub species capripneumoniae
	Mycoplasma mycoides var capri
	Newcastle disease virus—Hitchener Bl and F strains only
	Porcine influenza viruses
	Pox viruses—camel
	Psoroptes communis var. ovis
	Theileria spp.
	Trichinella spiralis
	Trypanosoma spp
	Viral haemorrhagic disease of rabbits virus
	Any other non-enzootic animal pathogen not listed in Defra groups 3 and 4

Animal Quarantine

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what the period of notice provided to owners of facilities licensed to quarantine animals entering the UK before inspections are carried out is;
	(2)  what the minimum number per year is of inspections of facilities licensed to quarantine animals entering the UK;
	(3)  how many inspections of facilities licensed to quarantine animals entering the UK were carried out in each of the last five years.

Ben Bradshaw: Under Article 9 of the Rabies (Importation of Dogs, Cats and other Mammals) Order 1974, which covers Great Britain, quarantine premises are required to be authorised by a licence issued by a Defra Minister.
	In order to maintain their authorised status, quarantine premises for companion animals are required to be inspected by the State Veterinary Service. If the inspections are satisfactory, the premises are issued with an authorisation licence by Defra. The target for inspections is quarterly visits, that is four visits annually, two of which are pre-notified and two which are unannounced. Pre-notified visits are usually arranged two to four weeks in advance. There are normally, at least, three visits a year to authorised premises, and for some, there may be more than four annually.
	In addition to these, when a complaint is received from the public, an unannounced visit is made to investigate the complaint.
	Detailed records of inspections are kept for individual authorised quarantine premises, but are not collated centrally.

Animal Quarantine

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many and what types of diseases were detected in domestic animals in quarantine after entering the UK in each of the last five years.

Ben Bradshaw: Quarantine rules relate only to controls to prevent the introduction of rabies into this country and do not require the reporting of other diseases.

Animal Quarantine

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proposals she has to reform the quarantine requirements for domestic animals entering the UK.

Ben Bradshaw: Following the report in September 1998 by the Advisory Group on Quarantine (the Kennedy Report), "Quarantine and Rabies: A Reappraisal", the Government undertook a radical reform of the UK quarantine regulations. On 28 February 2000, the Pet Travel Scheme (PETS) was introduced, which allows cats and dogs from specified countries, and which comply with certain conditions, to enter the UK without going into quarantine. The Scheme has now been operating successfully for four years. We have no plans for any further major changes to quarantine law.
	However, between December 2000 and March 2001, MAFF undertook a consultation exercise on proposals for legislation to update the law governing quarantine premises. Agreement of new EU rules on the movement of pet animals will also require some changes to the national quarantine legislation. We therefore expect to review the detailed rules on quarantine during 2004.

Animal Quarantine

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many facilities are licensed to quarantine animals in the UK; and where they are located.

Ben Bradshaw: The Department is responsible for authorising quarantine premises for dogs, cats and all other rabies susceptible animals. These include zoos, research establishments and quarantine kennels and catteries. There are currently 40 authorised quarantine premises for dogs, cats and pet mammals in Great Britain; 36 are in England, one in Wales and three in Scotland. A list of these quarantine premises is freely available on the Defra website.

Animal Quarantine

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the average cost was of keeping an animal in quarantine after entry to the UK in the last year.

Ben Bradshaw: Quarantine premises set charges according to the facilities provided and it is a matter of contractual arrangement between the pet owner and the quarantine premises.

Animal Quarantine

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many (a) cats and (b) dogs have died while being kept in quarantine after entering the UK in each of the last five years.

Ben Bradshaw: The table shows the number of cats and dogs notified that died in quarantine in the last five years. It is a requirement on quarantine premises to notify all deaths in quarantine to Defra.
	
		
			  Number of cats died in quarantine Number of dogs died in quarantine Total number of deaths in quarantine 
		
		
			 1999 54 25 79 
			 2000 35 30 65 
			 2001 16 24 40 
			 2002 29 27 56 
			 2003 22 11 33

Animal Quarantine

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the last recorded case was of a domestic animal showing signs of rabies while kept in quarantine after entering the UK.

Ben Bradshaw: The last recorded case of a domestic animal showing clinical signs of rabies while in quarantine in the UK was in September 1990. This diagnosis was subsequently confirmed by laboratory tests.

Badgers

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what information she has collated on the estimated badger population of mainland continental Europe.

Ben Bradshaw: The most recent assessment of the status of the badger (Meles meles) in Europe was published in 1997 1 .
	The quality of information available from each country varied considerably and as a result it was not possible to accurately estimate the Continent's total badger population. In an earlier publication 2 , the same authors estimated that the European badger population was at least 1,220,000. At that time the British population was thought to be 250,000, which is approximately 20 per cent. of all European badgers.
	1 Source:The conservation and management of the European badger (Meles meles) (1997). Nature and Environment No. 90; by H. I. Griffiths and D. H. Thomas; Council of Europe Publishing (ISBN: 92–871–3447–2).
	2 Source:The status of the badger Meles meles (L.,1758) (Carnivora, Mustelidae) in Europe (1993) by H. I. Griffiths and D. H. Thomas; Mammal Review; 23, 17–58.

Badgers

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what account is taken of routine sightings of badgers during daylight hours in calculating population size and density.

Ben Bradshaw: Routine, or incidental, sightings are rarely suitable for estimating animal abundance, although such sightings can be useful for establishing the presence of a species in a locality—especially in the case of rare animals.
	Badger sightings have been used to estimate densities, but only as part of planned surveys following a scientifically robust methodology (Heydon, M. J., Reynolds, J. C. and Short, M. J. (2000); Journal of Zoology; 251, 253–264). Furthermore, sighting-based surveys of badgers are carried out at night rather than during daylight hours, as this is when badgers are most likely to be observed above ground.
	By far the most widely used method for estimating badger density is based on signs rather than sightings of badgers. During the national surveys carried out during the 1980s and 1990s badger numbers were extrapolated from the density of setts (taking account of their size and level of activity) and the average size of badger social groups.
	Full details of the sett surveying methodology used in the last national badger survey are given in: "Changes in the British badger population, 1988 to 1997" by G. Wilson, S. Harris and G. McLaren (1997), published by the People's Trust for Endangered Species.

Badgers

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the expected date is of completion of the project designed to assess the impact of removing badgers from the ecosystem; what the budgeted cost of the project is; from which institution the project is being managed; and who the lead scientist is.

Ben Bradshaw: The expected date for completion of the project is the end of March 2005. The budgeted overall cost of the project is £1.48 million. The project is being managed by the head of the team at the Woodchester Park site of the Central Science Laboratory.

Badgers

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will seek from the European Commission permission to compensate farmers who have suffered consequential losses as a result of the suspension of badger culling in reactive areas in the randomised badger culling trials.

Ben Bradshaw: I do not plan to seek permission from the European Commission to pay compensation for consequential losses due the cessation of culling in reactive areas of the randomised badger culling trial. The decision to suspend the reactive culling element of the trial was taken because the preliminary results indicated that this action would reduce the risk of TB breakdowns.

Badgers

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will conduct investigations into whether perturbation in badger populations can be eliminated or substantially reduced by improved culling programme design and execution.

Ben Bradshaw: Defra has funded research into perturbation of badger populations subject to culling. The results of the most recent work are yet to be published.

Badgers

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she expects to publish data on the prevalence of TB in badgers in areas of high incidence in cattle herds.

Ben Bradshaw: Details of the incidence of TB in badgers captured during operations of the Randomised Badger Culling Trial will be published once the trial is finished, which is scheduled to be mid-2006.
	These data will give an indication of the prevalence of TB in the badger population in trial areas; one of the criteria for the selection of these areas was that there was a high level of incidence of TB in cattle herds.

Badgers

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs based on the findings from post mortem examinations of badgers and other data, what her best estimate is of the number of TB-infected badgers existing in England and Wales; and what the best estimate was for that figure in 1994.

Ben Bradshaw: It is not possible to give an accurate figure for the number of TB-infected badgers existing in England and Wales because of the difficulty of estimating the size of the badger population and the reliability of the prevalence data available.
	The prevalence of TB in MAFF-taken badgers collected in England and Wales each year from 1975 to 1996 is given in Appendix 10 of the Krebs Report (PB 3423).
	The prevalence of TB in Road Traffic Accident badgers collected in England and Wales each year from 1972 to 1996 is given in Appendix 11 of the Krebs Report (PB 3423).
	A copy of the Krebs Report is available in the Library of the House.
	Data on the incidence of TB in badgers collected under the present Road Traffic Accident survey and the Randomised Badger Culling Trial should yield more accurate information, but these data will remain confidential until the trial is finished, which is scheduled to be mid-2006.

Badgers

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what level of TB in badgers is sufficient for the disease to be considered as epidemic in the population; and how in this context the term endemic differs from the term epidemic.

Ben Bradshaw: Bovine TB is endemic in badgers in the UK; i.e. it is constantly present in badgers within this geographical area. An epidemic occurs where the occurrence of an infection increases clearly beyond normal expectancy. There is currently no evidence to suggest that levels of bovine TB in badgers have increased substantially in recent years.

Badgers

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what factors increase the susceptibility of (a) badgers and (b) cattle to disease following exposure to M. bovis bacilli.

Ben Bradshaw: Factors that increase the susceptibility of cattle to disease following exposure to M. bovis include general health, nutritional status and immunological capability. It is likely that similar factors are important in determining the susceptibility of badgers although no studies have been carried out on this particular subject.

Badgers

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many badger setts that have been sticked have subsequently been found to have been recolonised; and what action is taken in the event that such recolonisation is observed.

Ben Bradshaw: Sticking of a Randomised Badger Culling Trial (RBCT) sett is a method used to indicate whether the sett is in active use. The team carrying out the post-cull survey will note the sign and use this information to inform their report. It may be difficult to identify whether a sett has been recolonised or whether there are badgers remaining from the original colony which were not captured during the trapping operation.
	RBCT design requires culling operations to be repeated annually in Proactive areas to maintain badger numbers as low as possible. During such operations, traps are placed on active setts on premises consenting to culling and additionally at locations indicating the movement of badgers from any adjoining non-consent land.

Badgers

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she expects the Oxford University research on badger perturbation being carried out on behalf of her Department to be completed; when the report will be made available; who the lead scientist is; what the protocols are for this work; and what the budgeted cost is.

Ben Bradshaw: It is expected that the Oxford University research on badger perturbation being carried out on behalf of the Department will be completed at the end of March 2004. It is likely that the final report will be available later this year. It is managed by a member of the university's Zoology Department. The project's protocol investigates whether the spatial and temporal scale of the perturbation processes, the pattern and speed of recolonisation and the relief of density-dependent inhibitions on reproduction and survival observed in the study area may be generalised. The budgeted overall cost for the project is £1.25 million.

Badgers

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what statutory measures exist for the licensing and authorisation of badger translocations; under what conditions licences or authorisations are issued; which Department is responsible for implementing their provisions; and what the nature and level of supervisions are over persons licensed or otherwise authorised to carry out translocations.

Ben Bradshaw: I refer the hon. Member to the answers given on 6 January 2004, Official Report, column 249W, and 20 January 2004, Official Report, column 1186W.
	The specific conditions imposed on any licence are tailored to the particular circumstances of the operation to be undertaken.
	Licences are issued by the appropriate statutory conservation agency or agricultural department (English Nature and Defra, respectively, in England) depending on the purpose of the proposed translocation. The licensing body is responsible for specifying the conditions and licensee is responsible for complying with them.
	All licensed translocations are closely supervised by the issuing authority and by wildlife advisers with experience in licensed badger operations from the Department's National Wildlife Management Team.

Badgers

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to her answer of 8 December 2003, Official Report, columns 214–15W, on bovine TB, and 15 December 2003, Official Report, column 631W, on badgers, what plans she has to revise guidelines to farmers on the height, positioning and protection of feed and water troughs following the findings of the Central Veterinary Laboratory on the climbing capabilities of badgers.

Ben Bradshaw: Recent research has demonstrated that in some circumstances badgers are capable of reaching cattle feed troughs set at least 80 cm above the ground.
	There are no plans to change the existing height guidelines, as trough heights must be set so that the cattle intended to feed from them can still reach the contents. However, investigation into trough design to deter access by badgers is being carried out.

Badgers

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether persons wishing or authorised to undertake the relocation of badgers are required (a) to carry out tests on those animals and (b) to await the results of any such tests before setting them free in their new locations.

Ben Bradshaw: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 20 January 2004, Official Report, column 1186W. To briefly reiterate, all badgers relocated under the authority of a licence are tested three times for bovine tuberculosis and are only released if all three tests are negative. A similar approach is also applied to the relocation of rehabilitated badgers by animal hospitals, only in this case testing guidelines are not mandatory, but are set down in a voluntary code of practice.

Badgers

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the conclusions were of Professor Solly Zuckerman's 1988 report to the Ministry of Agriculture; and what his recommendations were for future strategy to protect (a) badgers and (b) cattle.

Ben Bradshaw: A copy of Professor Zuckerman's 1980 report, in which he describes in detail his conclusions and recommendations, is available in the House of Commons Library.

Badgers

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment has been made of the effects of the use of more discrete methods of badger culling on culling results.

Ben Bradshaw: It is not possible to draw an accurate comparison between different methods of culling badgers because there are no reliable methods of estimating badger populations either before or after culling.

Badgers

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what percentage cull of badgers was originally proposed for the Krebs trials; how the culling was to be achieved; and in what ways the protocol was amended in the final version.

Ben Bradshaw: The Krebs report advised that in reactive areas all badgers, including lactating sows, should be removed from all social groups with territories including the breakdown farm. In the proactive areas there should be total removal of complete badger social groups from localised areas at high risk of breakdown, before herd breakdowns occurred. It also recommended that the use of stop-snaring should be explored as an alternative to trapping, and that an expert group should be established to oversee the detailed experimental design and operation of the trial.
	The group which was established, the Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB, considered the possible use of snaring. It decided against this method of capture in favour of cage trapping and recorded the rationale for doing so in its first report (PB3881). That report also records its reasons for introducing a closed season for three months each year, when no trapping takes place.

Badgers

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether any behavioural patterns have been observed in badgers showing signs of TB which predispose them to closer contact with cattle.

Ben Bradshaw: The Central Science Laboratory has just finished a research project at Woodchester Park to investigate the behavioural consequences of bovine TB infection in badgers. The findings of this study will be published in the scientific press shortly.

Bovine TB

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to her Answer of 8 December 2003, Official Report, column 218W on bovine TB, how many countries use the current skin sensitivity test as the primary diagnostic tool for bovine TB; and how many have reported problems with this test.

Ben Bradshaw: There are a number of different types of skin test in use around the world. We do not hold comprehensive information on the number of countries using each of these tests nor the way in which these tests are interpreted.
	All countries that have either eradicated, or have a programme to control, bovine tuberculosis use one or more forms of the skin test. The Government have close links with a number of countries in various stages of eradication and exchanges information and experiences on the use of the tests in the context of these programmes.
	The Government are not aware of any country that has replaced the skin test as the primary test for bovine tuberculosis.

Bovine TB

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether it is possible to determine the relative culpability of an owner of a herd in which a TB breakdown is recorded as to why animals become infected.

Ben Bradshaw: In some cases, a TB breakdown may be attributable to a specific event, for example the purchase of an infected animal. In many cases, despite a veterinary investigation, it is not possible to determine the source of the infection with certainty. Defra does not attempt to determine relative culpability but has encouraged all farmers to take sensible precautions to reduce the risk to their cattle through the issue of the yellow "Better biosecurity" card and various booklets which contain guidance on disease prevention and control measures.

Bovine TB

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  how many deer have been subject to post mortem examinations by her Department for the presence of TB during the least five years; and how many were found to be infected;
	(2)  what historical data are held by her Department on the prevalence of bovine TB in the British deer population; and what those data indicate as to the incidence of bovine TB in that population;
	(3)  what her estimate is of the population of wild deer in England and Wales; what the estimated prevalence is of bovine TB in that population; and what concentrations there are of the disease in the wild population.

Ben Bradshaw: No statutory body routinely collects information on overall wild deer numbers in England and Wales. Stephen Harris et al. (1995) estimated the pre-breeding population sizes for deer in Great Britain (Table 1).
	
		Table 1: Population of wild deer in England and Wales (estimated) 
		
			 Species England Wales 
		
		
			 Red deer 12,500 <50 
			 Fallow deer 95,000 <1,000 
			 Roe deer 150,000 50 
			 Sika deer 2,500 0 
			 Muntjac deer 40,000 <250 
			 Chinese water deer 650 0 
			 Total 300,650 <1,350 
		
	
	Source:Harris, S., Morris P., Wray S. and Yalden D. 1995. "A Review of British Mammals: Population Estimates and Conservation Status of British Mammals Other than Cetaceans". JNCC, Peterborough.
	Table 2 shows the number of wild and farmed deer carcases, investigated for TB between 1992 and 2002 and the number of samples where Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis) was found following bacteriological culture.
	
		Table 2: Deer samples tested for bovine TB
		
			  Total number of deer tissue submissions investigated by Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA) Number of confirmed TB cases in wild deer Number of confirmed TB cases farmed/park deer Total number of deer confirmed with TB 
		
		
			 1992 50 0 1 1 
			 1993 33 1 0 1 
			 1994 21 1 0 1 
			 1995 (1)— 3 0 3 
			 1996 (2)17 11 0 11 
			 1997 11 3 0 3 
			 1998 37 6 1 7 
			 1999 49 7 3 10 
			 2000 39 3 6 9 
			 2001 28 0 1 1 
			 2002 54 3 10 13 
		
	
	(1) Data not available.
	(2) Most accurate data currently available.
	Defra has funded a survey of wildlife in the south-west of England by the Central Science Laboratory. The first phase established whether Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis—the causative organism for bovine tuberculosis) was present in a number of wild mammal species, including deer. M. bovis has been confirmed in five of the six established wild and feral species of deer in GB. The second phase of the survey (due to end March 2004) is to estimate prevalence of M. bovis in those species where it is found, by carrying out a more targeted and extensive sampling.

Bovine TB

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  pursuant to her Answer of 8 December 2003, Official Report, column 218W, on bovine TB, whether the occasions of severe interference in the operational Krebs triplets areas represented a significant interference; whether that level of interference affected the conduct and outcome of the trials; and what the effects were of that interference in terms of (a) the outcomes and (b) the costs involved;
	(2)  how many farms were affected during the Krebs trials by a partial clearance of the badger population which was subsequently stopped; how many partial clearances were undertaken after a delayed start; and how the incomplete clearances affected (a) the conduct of the trials and (b) their outcome.

Ben Bradshaw: There has been a level of illegal activity and interference with the operation of the Randomised Badger Culling Trial which is certainly undesirable and could be considered significant. The cost of replacing stolen, lost and damaged traps is estimated to be approximately £400,000. Other costs relate chiefly to the loss of staff time, which cannot be provided at proportionate cost.
	At the time of cessation of the reactive strategy one premises was in the process of being trapped and the operation was concluded with only half the number of trapping nights completed. A number of other operations have been stopped early for a variety of reasons, for example bad weather or activity by animal activists. If an operation is not able to start as scheduled, it is extended to ensure that the standard period of two weeks' trapping is maintained.
	Standard Operating Procedures take account of the possibility of interruption to trapping operations. Although interference varied across trial areas, the Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB found that the increase in the incidence of TB in reactive culling areas when compared with control (no culling) areas was consistent across all triplets.

Bovine TB

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the percentage increase was in the number of TB reactor herds reported in 2003 compared with 2002; and what factors are believed to be responsible for this increase.

Ben Bradshaw: In 2003, up to the end of November, there had been 2,880 new cattle herd TB incidents in Great Britain. In the same period in 2002, there were 3,035 new TB herd incidents reported.
	It is difficult to draw comparison between 2002 and 2003, because the testing effort in 2002 was very much increased to clear the backlog of testing after the foot and mouth disease outbreak in 2001.

Bovine TB

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many herds required 60-day tuberculosis tests in 1988.

Ben Bradshaw: In 1988, 351 herds required short-interval ('60-day') tests.

Bovine TB

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the estimated infective dose is of TB bacilli (var bovis) in respect of cattle, by reference to infection portals; what the peak load is of bacilli that can be excreted in the urine of infected badgers; and what the predicted die-off rate is of the TB bacilli on grassland.

Ben Bradshaw: Determination of the minimum infectious dose of Mycobacterium bovis in cattle is part of the TB pathogenesis research programme. Early indications are that the minimum infectious dose for cattle via the respiratory tract is relatively small; the lowest infectious dose recorded so far is 70 colony forming units CFU, when introduced by the intracheal route or 9,600 CPU by the intranasal route.
	Relatively high levels of M. bovis in the urine of badgers with renal TB have been identified by culture methods, so far bacterial loads of up to 300,000 colony forming units per millilitre of urine have been measured.
	It is known that the survival of M. bovis on pasture is widely variable depending on climate and pasture type. In hot dry weather survival may be a day or less whereas in cool damp weather M. bovis may survive for several months and in some circumstances in excess of six months.

Bovine TB

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to her answer of 8 December 2003, Official Report, column 216W, on bovine TB, what other rapid assay techniques are (a) available and (b) in the course of development which have the potential to speed up the detection of M. bovis in suspected TB lesions submitted for laboratory analysis.

Ben Bradshaw: Several liquid culture methods are commercially available for the isolation of bacteria of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex from clinical samples. These methods are mainly used in medical laboratories for the diagnosis of TB in humans. Although the liquid culture media can significantly shorten culture times, they have not been optimised for isolation of M. bovis. The growth requirements of M. bovis and M. tuberculosis are slightly different and culture media that work for one mycobacterium may not work so well for the other.
	The Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA) is evaluating the M. bovis recovery rates and ease of use of two of these liquid culture media compared with the traditional method used for cattle and badger tissues. Preliminary findings suggest that one of these systems might be adequate for rapid isolation of M. bovis from badger tissues. Additional experiments are under way to validate these findings and see if they can be extrapolated to cattle samples.
	The VLA is also collaborating with the Imperial College in the design and optimisation of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay for the detection of M. bovis DMA in suspect TB lesions.
	Although this is a priority area of research for Defra, it is unlikely that any of the new laboratory tests being evaluated can totally replace the traditional culture technique.

Carcase Burial Pits

John Burnett: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what costs were incurred by her Department and its predecessor in relation to the proposed carcase burial pits at Ash Moor in Devon, broken down by (a) costs in relation to the acquisition of rights of way, (b) costs of construction including materials and off-site works, (c) security costs, (d) costs of restoration, including off-site works, (e) legal and professional fees and costs and (f) consultants' fees and costs.

Ben Bradshaw: holding answer 26 January 2004
	The site was declared closed by Defra in late 2001. Costs incurred prior to 12/2001 relate to site construction, costs after 12/2001 relate to site management and restoration.
	
		£
		
			  Up to end 11/2001 From12/2001 
		
		
			 Purchase of site (inc Acquire rights of way) 300,000 Nil 
			 Cost of Construction 5,686,000 965,350 
			 Security (inc fence maintenance) 395,000 215,000 
			 Legal fees (estimated) 100,000 70,000 
			 Consultant fees and costs 203,000 (3)603,950 
		
	
	Notes
	(3) Figure quoted includes site management changes

Environmental Protection

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her Department has spent in each of the past three years on training for environmental health officers under the Contaminated Land Regime, Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990; and if she will make statement.

Elliot Morley: With grant-in-aid from the Department, the Environment Agency enables training in procedural and technical aspects of the regime to include places for both local authority and Agency staff, in a joint approach. The latter often make up 75 per cent. or more of those attending.
	The Agency spent around £180,000 on developing such training in 2003–04, and an estimated £120,000 to £150,000 per annum in earlier years. They work closely with the National Society for Clean Air, and the Chartered Institute for Environmental Health who also provide training for local authority staff. The Agency has made materials available for use by other training providers.

Environmental Protection

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what financial and practical assistance her Department has given to environmental health officers since the Contaminated Land Regime, Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 came into force; and if she will make a statement.

Elliot Morley: The Department has been providing financial assistance to English local authorities for contaminated land capital projects for many years. Since the introduction in April 2000 of the contaminated land regime in Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, a total of £33.083 million capital funding has been provided, covering the financial years 2000–01 to 2002–03. Final figures are not yet available for 2003–04, but approvals to local authorities total a further £10.8 million, although the final outturn may be lower. Our project assessors frequently give advice to individual authorities which can save money and improve results.
	To reflect the revenue implications of the regime for local authorities, £12 million per year was added to revenue support grant, and distributed in the normal way through the system of standard spending assessments. Capital and revenue support will continue under the new prudential finance system.
	The Department, together with the Environment Agency, has also been producing procedural and technical guidance, notably the Contaminated Land Exposure Assessment (CLEA) Model and associated materials. This work is continuing. Details are available on the Department's website. The Environment Agency have also produced a number of technical and other documents.

Fisheries

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what impact she expects the increase in the Scottish North Sea fleet haddock quota will have on landed prices;
	(2)  what the effect on market prices is of major quota increases for a fish species.

Ben Bradshaw: The price for an internationally traded species of fish, such as haddock, will tend to be influenced by the world price.
	The processing industry imports substantial quantities of fish to meet its needs and over time can adjust its import needs for species such as haddock, if the price and quality of domestic landings are considered appropriate.
	However, in the short term, prices for fish landed at UK ports may be affected by a number of factors, including the quality and size of fish, and whether exceptionally heavy or light concentrations of fish, are landed at particular times.
	Prices can also be affected by marketing activities. I understand that Seafish and Seafood Scotland, with the support of Scottish fishermen, are about to begin a consumer campaign for marketing haddock.

GM Crops

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when the Government's response to the farm scale evaluations of GM crops will be published.

Elliot Morley: holding answer 29 January 2004
	The Government have received advice from the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE) on the implications of the farm scale evaluation results. We are consulting with the devolved Administrations before deciding whether to accept ACRE'S advice.
	The Government are now considering their overall policy on GM crops in the light of all the available information, including ACRE'S advice. We are aiming to set out our conclusions shortly.

GM Crops

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has for further scientific tests of GM crops following the farm scale evaluations.

Elliot Morley: holding answer 29 January 2004
	The Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE) will advise on a case-by-case basis for each individual GM crop whether we have enough scientific evidence to enable us to make decisions. If further evidence is needed then we would expect the applicants to provide it. We are currently considering priorities for further publicly funded research in light of science review report.

Information Technology

Richard Allan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what cost savings have been made in her Department since the introduction of the Information Technology procurement Centre of Excellence; and how these were calculated.

Alun Michael: A Centre of Excellence was formally established within Defra in June 2003 to integrate the essential functions which underpin the successful delivery of all types of acquisition based programmes and projects. As cost benefits will not accrue until improvements start to take effect, it is too early to measure cost savings. All Centres of Excellence are currently developing future plans, and as part of this process measurement of savings will be defined and reported.

Ivory

Tony Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the Government's policy on the proposed sale of ivory stockpiles by (a) Namibia, (b) Botswana and (c) South Africa under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

Elliot Morley: holding answer 28 January 2004
	It was agreed at the 12th Conference of Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Chile in 2002, that any one-off ivory sales would be supervised through a strict control system. It was also agreed that no sales would take place before May 2004 at the earliest to provide time for baseline data to be gathered on population and poaching levels and for information to be obtained on whether potential importing countries can effectively regulate their domestic ivory markets. The aim of these controls is to prevent any illegal ivory from entering into legal markets and to discourage an upsurge in poaching.
	The Government are strongly opposed to the illegal and unsustainable trade in elephant ivory. We will therefore insist at the CITES Standing Committee in Geneva in March 2004 that all of the strict conditions governing the one-off sale are met in full before any trade is allowed to go ahead.

Krebs Trials

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to her Answer of 11 December 2003, Official Report, column 539W, what the detailed protocol was for the wildlife survey undertaken as part of the Krebs trials; and whether landowner participation was invited for the specific surveys carried out in pursuance of this survey.

Ben Bradshaw: Survey techniques employed on this project to assess abundance of wildlife include spotlight surveys of hedgehogs, foxes, rabbits and brown hares and count surveys of ground-nesting birds. Radiotelemetry is also used to study the behaviour and mortality of hedgehogs, and video and still camera surveillance to monitor predation of birds' nests. Fox diet has been investigated through the collection of faecal samples. Detailed protocols of these techniques will be documented in scientific publications which are currently in preparation. All landowners were contacted to request their permission for access to land before surveys were carried out.

Rural Payments Agency

Mark Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what percentage of appeals against the Rural Payments Agency were successful in (a) 2003–04 and (b) 2002–03.

Alun Michael: The Rural Payments Agency is responsible for the administration of the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) Appeal Procedure in England. The procedure was introduced on 1 April 2002 to provide IACS scheme applicants with easy access to an independent review of decisions on their claims. Those appellants who are unsuccessful at the first stage of the procedure have the opportunity to progress to a second stage. The percentage of successful appeals under each stage of the appeal procedure is as follows:
	
		
			  2002–03 2003 to date 
		
		
			 Number of appeals completed stage 1 50 48 
			 Percentage successful/partially successful 30 27 
			 Number of appeals completed stage 2 5 18 
			 Percentage successful/partially successful 20 33

Rural Payments Agency

Mark Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make it her policy to pay interest on the late settlement of rural payments due to appeals.

Alun Michael: The Rural Payments Agency will consider on a case-by-case basis requests for the payment of compensation in lieu of interest in successful appeals.

Rural Payments Agency

Mark Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the (a) total number and (b) average value of appeals under consideration by the Rural Payments Agency is.

Alun Michael: There are currently 28 Stage 1 and three Stage 2 appeals under consideration by the Rural Payments Agency under the Integrated Administration and Control System Appeal Procedure in England. Information on the average value of appeals under consideration can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Thames Gateway (Flood Risk)

John Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment of flood risk in the Thames Gateway Development Area has been made by the Environment Agency; and if she will make a statement.

Elliot Morley: holding answer 26 January 2004
	The Thames Gateway Development area is currently protected from flooding to a standard in excess of 1:1000 (or a 0.01 per cent. chance).
	This standard will be maintained until 2030 by the existing defences. The Environment Agency is now starting to consider the longer-term strategy for the whole Thames estuary beyond this date including mitigation for the impacts of climate change.

Warm Front

Candy Atherton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the rationale is behind the cut-off point of £14,200 for household income above which a family in receipt of working tax credit will not qualify for assistance through the Warm Front scheme.

Elliot Morley: This cut-off point was established to help target those on low incomes and therefore more likely to be in fuel poverty.
	The eligibility criteria for Warm Front are broadly in line with the low income priority group for the Energy Efficiency Commitment (EEC). In a consultation document on the changes to the tax credit system affecting the priority group for the EEC, published by the Department in December 2002, a cut-off point of around £14,000 was proposed for child tax credit and working tax credit.
	Following that consultation and consideration of the responses received, a cut-off point of £14,200 was set for the EEC. To maintain consistency, this was also introduced to the eligibility criteria for Warm Front.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Office of the Speaker

David Burnside: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the monthly cost of the Office of the Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly (a) was in the six months before suspension and (b) has been since suspension, broken down by (i) staff costs and (ii) administration costs.

Paul Murphy: The average monthly expenditure for the Office of the Speaker for the six months prior to suspension—from 1 May 2002 to 31 October 2002—was £15,234 of which staff costs accounted for £12,067 and administrative costs for £3,167. For administrative purposes figures have been included for the period up to and including 31 October 2002.
	The average monthly expenditure for the Office of the Speaker for the eight months following suspension—from 1 November 2002 to 30 June 2003—was £18,881 of which staff costs accounted for £13,392 and administrative costs for £5,489. This included the costs of a number of events already planned prior to suspension of the Assembly.
	The average monthly expenditure for the Office of the Speaker for the last six months—from 1 July 2003 to 31 December 2003—was £13,401 of which staff costs accounted for £12,846 and administrative costs for £555.

Children's Homes

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans he has to increase the number of children's home places in the province.

Angela Smith: In recent years the total number of available residential places has increased from 332 (2001) to 409 (January 2004). Plans for a further increase in the number of residential places and a continuing programme of replacements for unsuitable and substandard facilities are currently being developed but have not yet been fully finalised. It is expected that these further plans will involve an increase of around 50 in the number of residential places available over the next three years.

Civil Service

Seamus Mallon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what progress has been made in negotiating a pay settlement within the Northern Ireland Civil Service following the recent industrial action; and what steps the Department of Finance and Personnel have taken to engage in pay negotiations with union representatives.

Ian Pearson: Extensive negotiations over several months did not result in an agreed pay deal for the 11 departments of the Northern Ireland Administration this year. Management Side presented an offer worth 3.67 per cent. on 5 November. As this could not be agreed, and Trade Union Side declined to negotiate within the 3.67 per cent. envelope, we took the decision to proceed to pay the award and communicated this to staff and Trade Union Side on 27 November . I have made clear to Trade Union Side that the 3.67 per cent. deal is the maximum that can be paid. We are however open to exploring other reasonable means of resolving the dispute. A further meeting of the Central Whitley Council between Trade Union and Management Sides has been arranged.

Classroom Assistants

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) part-time and (b) full-time classroom assistants were employed in Northern Ireland's schools in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement on (i) the recruitment and (ii) the retention of classroom assistants in Northern Ireland.

Jane Kennedy: The information requested is as follows.
	
		
			  Part-time Full-time 
		
		
			 1997(4) 2,181 705 
			 1998(4) 2,696 748 
			 1999(4) 3,019 793 
			 2000(4) 3,273 815 
			 2001(4) 3,558 886 
			 2002 4,157 1,137 
			 2003 5,133 1,178 
		
	
	(4) Figures for Voluntary Grammar Schools and Grant Maintained Integrated Schools are not available for these years.
	Recruitment and retention of Classroom Assistants does not pose any difficulties in Northern Ireland.

Armagh College Staff

Seamus Mallon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the full-time equivalent staffing complement at Armagh College of Further and Higher Education was at the end of academic years (a) 2001–02 and (b) 2002–03.

Jane Kennedy: The full-time equivalent staffing complements for Armagh College of Further and Higher Education for the specified academic years are:
	(a) 2001–02: 95.31; and
	(b) 2002–03: 95.11.

Dementia

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what recent steps he has taken to improve services for those who develop dementia early in life.

Angela Smith: The Health and Social Services Trusts provide a range of hospital and community-based services to people with dementia, including those who develop this condition early in life. However there are some younger people whose needs are not being fully met and Trusts are therefore working with this group to determine their specific requirements. The emphasis will be on maintaining people with dementia at home with adequate support from qualified and trained staff.
	Dementia services will be included in a comprehensive evaluation of policy and services being undertaken by the Review of Mental Health and Learning Disability.

Disabled Persons

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what means are used to assist disabled persons in gaining employment in Northern Ireland.

Jane Kennedy: The Department for Employment and Learning through the Disablement Advisory Service provides advice, guidance, training and a job-placing service for people with disabilities and health issues. The service assists disabled people who wish to obtain or retain employment and is delivered by a team of Disablement Employment Advisers based in JobCentres/Jobs and Benefits Offices across Northern Ireland.
	The Department provides a range of programmes which have been designed to assist people with a range of disabilities enter and keep employment. These include the Job Introduction Scheme, Access to Work, Employment Support and New Deal for Disabled People. The Department also administers European funding under the Programme for Building Sustainable Prosperity and the EQUAL Community Initiative which support people with health problems and disabilities return to employment.
	The Special Needs Careers Service provides a service to young people with disabilities in full-time education and training and after completion of these.

E-Government

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps he has taken to promote e-government services within his Department.

John Spellar: The electronic delivery of services is central to our commitment to providing modern, efficient services and to making government more open and accessible to the public.
	The publication of the OnlineNI Strategy in April 2003 provides a framework for the future development of e-government and electronic service delivery in Northern Ireland. Both Northern Ireland Departments and the Northern Ireland Office have a target to have 100 per cent. key services capable of being delivered electronically by the end of 2005.

Maternity Statistics

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many women from outside the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland gave birth at each maternity unit in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

Angela Smith: One woman from outside the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland gave birth at a maternity unit in Northern Ireland during the last 12 months.

Maternity Statistics

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many women from outside Northern Ireland gave birth in the province in each of the last 12 months who were from (a) Great Britain, (b) the Republic of Ireland, (c) other EU countries and (d) outside the European Union; and if he will make a statement.

Angela Smith: The table shows the number of women from (a) Great Britain, (b) the Republic of Ireland, (c) other EU countries and (d) outside the European Union who gave birth in Northern Ireland in each of the last 12 months.
	
		
			 Month GB RO1 EU Non-EU 
		
		
			 January 2003 9 21 0 0 
			 February 2003 1 27 0 0 
			 March 2003 4 26 0 0 
			 April 2003 8 22 0 0 
			 May 2003 11 17 0 0 
			 June 2003 11 25 0 0 
			 July 2003 6 35 0 0 
			 August 2003 8 24 0 0 
			 September 2003 8 24 0 1 
			 October 2003 9 24 0 0 
			 November 2003 7 30 0 0 
			 December 2003 7 22 0 0 
			 Total 2003 89 297 0 1 
		
	
	Source
	Child Health System

MOT Tests

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) successful and (b) failed MOT tests were performed at each test centre in Northern Ireland in the last 12 months.

Angela Smith: Information on successful and unsuccessful MOT tests could be provided from the manual test records of the Department of the Environment's Driver and Vehicle Testing Agency (DVTA) only at disproportionate cost. However, new information technology recently installed in all DVTA test centres will allow this information to be extracted in the future.
	In the meantime, the table shows, by test centre, the number of all tests and re-tests (previous test failures) for all vehicle categories for which roadworthiness certificates are required, including those generally referred to as MOT tests. It should be noted that the re-test figures can include multiple re-tests on a single vehicle, that the re-test may not take place at the same centre as the original test and that re-test numbers may be affected by the proportion of tests on different categories of vehicles at individual test centres. The re-test figures do not include vehicles which fail the full test but are not subsequently presented for re-test.
	
		Number of vehicle tests carried out—January to December 2003 (inclusive)
		
			  Number of full tests Number of retests 
		
		
			 Armagh 23,859 6,391 
			 Ballymena 40,706 8,121 
			 Belfast 56,825 13,547 
			 Coleraine 38,892 7,814 
			 Cookstown 34,867 7,976 
			 Craigavon 33,482 9,009 
			 Downpatrick 28,642 6,280 
			 Enniskillen 24,842 5,216 
			 Larne 22,166 4,197 
			 Lisburn 34,837 9,558 
			 Londonderry 27,673 7,056 
			 Mallusk 37,137 8,632 
			 Newry 29,097 6,520 
			 Newtownards 51,263 12,206 
			 Omagh 20,871 5,114 
			 Total 50,5159 11,7637

Moylinn GP Co-operative

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the relocation of the Moylinn General Practitioner Co-operative.

Angela Smith: I can advise that the out-of-hours facility at Moylinn will be moved to new purpose built premises on the Craigavon Area Hospital site. Building work is set to begin in the spring with the transfer of the out-of-hours services from Moylinn due to be completed early autumn this year.

Muckamore Abbey Site

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what input he has sought from service users into plans for redevelopment of the Muckamore Abbey Site.

Angela Smith: The redevelopment of Muckamore Abbey Hospital was first identified in strategies for services for people with learning disabilities produced by the Eastern and Northern Health and Social Services Boards in the mid-1990s. These strategies were the subject of extensive consultation, including public meetings held in number of venues throughout the Boards' areas.
	In July 2000, North and West Belfast Health and Social Services Trust distributed 800 copies of a consultation document on Muckamore Abbey Hospital. A number of public meetings were held, including a briefing meeting held by the Chief Executive for MLAs. A team of social workers visited the families of every inpatient in the hospital to hear their views on the proposed changes to the hospital.
	A service users' focus group has been set up which has been independently facilitated from outside the hospital. The focus group is made up of people who are currently hospital patients and people who are ex-patients. This is informing the modernisation process.

NHS

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what charges are in place for people using NHS services in Northern Ireland who do not reside in the United Kingdom; and whether these charges extend to citizens from (a) the Republic of Ireland and (b) other EU member states.

Angela Smith: The responsibility for calculating charges for private patients, or for patients who are not ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom, lies with Health and Social Services Trusts, each of which maintains its own list of charges. Residents of countries within the European Economic Area (EEA) are entitled to free treatment if they are taken ill while visiting Northern Ireland. Patients may also be referred to Northern Ireland for treatment of a specific condition under formal contractual arrangements between individual hospitals or health boards. With the exception of cross-border workers, visitors from the Republic of Ireland have the same entitlement to treatment as those from any other EEA country.

Racist Incidents

Kevin McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment the Community Relations Council has made of the level of race hate crime in Northern Ireland; what remedies they recommend; and what action he has taken as a result.

John Spellar: I have asked the Chief Executive of the Community Relations Council to write to my hon. Friend and I shall arrange for a copy of the letter to be placed in the Library of the House.

Orthopaedic Services

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the average waiting times are for (a) inpatient admission and (b) outpatient assessment in each of the Province's orthopaedic centres.

Angela Smith: The information is as follows:
	(a) The average waiting time for inpatient admission to the Trauma and Orthopaedic Specialty by Provider Trust in 2002–03 is shown in the following table.
	
		
			 Provider Trust Average waitin days 
		
		
			 Royal Group of Hospitals HSS Trust 16 
			 Green Park Healthcare HSS Trust 174 
			 Ulster Community and Hospitals Trust 21 
			 Altnagelvin Group HSS Trust 188 
			 Northern Ireland Average 162 
		
	
	Note:
	The data are calculated based on those people who were electively admitted to hospital during 2002–03.
	Data for the Royal Group of Hospital HSS Trust include patients admitted to the Trauma and Orthopaedic specialty in the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children.
	The casemix at the Royal Group of Hospitals HSS Trust and the Ulster Community and Hospitals Trust is different to the casemix at Green Park Healthcare HSS Trust and Altnagelvin Group HSS Trust. This accounts for the large variation in average waiting time between these Trusts.
	Source:
	Hospital Inpatients System
	(b) The information requested is not available

Racism (Chinese Community)

Andrew Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many racist incidents involving victims from the Chinese community occurred in Northern Ireland in (a) each of the last three years and (b) the current year to date.

John Spellar: I am sorry for the delay in replying.
	
		Reported racial incidents against the Chinese community in Northern Ireland
		
			 Financial year Number of attacks 
		
		
			 2000–01 78 
			 2001–02 33 
			 2002–03 44 
			 2003 to Present 58

Security Passes

Mark Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many security passes have been reported (a) lost and (b) stolen by staff in (i) his Department and (ii) departmental agencies in the last 12 months.

Paul Murphy: Since January 2003 a total of 12 passes have been reported lost and two stolen by staff in my Department; and during the same period five were reported lost and two stolen by staff in departmental agencies. The likelihood of any increased threat to the Department or Agency as a result of the loss of a pass is assessed on each occasion and any appropriate action is taken.
	This reply relates only to the Northern Ireland Office and does not cover the 11 departments of the Northern Ireland Administration.

Security Passes

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many security passes have been reported (a) lost and (b) stolen by staff in his Department in the last 12 months.

Paul Murphy: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave today to the hon. Member for Winchester (Question Ref. 147988).

Sign Language

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many individuals in Northern Ireland are trained in sign language.

Angela Smith: There are 17,000 people in Northern Ireland who have severe or profound deafness. Approximately 4,500 of these people use sign language. Hearing people who associate with signers in business or personal life also use sign language. Statistics are not available on how many individuals are trained in sign language, however, there are currently only five fully qualified registered BSL interpreters in Northern Ireland and one ISL interpreter.
	The Council for the Advancement of Communication with Deaf People (CACDP) in Northern Ireland have provided details of the BSL and ISL training given at each level from 2000 to 2003.
	
		
			 Sign Language 2000 2001 2002 2003 
		
		
			 Level 1(5) 456 592 522 386 
			 Level l(6) 63 60 32 27 
			 Level 2(5) 72 60 81 84 
			 Level 2(6) 12 16 20 13 
			 Total 603 728 655 510 
		
	
	(5) British
	(6) Irish

Working Time Regulations

Eddie McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many civil servants have applied under new Working Time Regulations to work from home, broken down by gender; and how many requests have been successful in each case.

Ian Pearson: The number of applications to work from home made by civil servants employed in NI Departments and the Northern Ireland Office under the Employment (Northern Ireland) Order 2002 (which came into effect on 6 April 2003), and the number of successful requests, are shown in the table.
	The procedures and timescales to be followed are specified in the Flexible Working (Procedural Requirements) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003.
	Also shown are the number of applications received since 6 April 2003 under existing work-life balance provisions, made outside the scope of the legislation, and the number of successful requests.
	
		
			  Requests underlegislation Requests madeoutside the scope ofthe legislation 
			 Requests for home-workingsince 6 April 2003 Male Female Total Male Female Total 
		
		
			 Applications (7)3 3 6 3 (7)3 6 
			 Successful applications 1 2 3 1 1 2 
		
	
	(7) One application currently under consideration.

HEALTH

Abortion Act

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  if he will make a statement on the application of section 1(1)(d) of the Abortion Act 1967 (as amended);
	(2)  if he will make a statement on whether cleft palate or cleft lip are regarded as serious handicaps for the purpose of section 1(1)(d) if the Abortion Act 1967 (as amended).

Melanie Johnson: Parliament decided in 1967 that a pregnancy could be terminated by a registered medical practitioner if two registered medical practitioners are of the opinion, formed in good faith that there is a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped. The term "seriously handicapped" has not been interpreted by any court decisions.
	Permission to proceed to a judicial review on these matters was granted on 1 December 2003 and will be considered by the courts at a hearing starting on 24 May 2004. The claimant is also seeking a declaration as to the incompatibility of section 1(1 )(d) of the Abortion Act 1967 with Articles 2, 3, 8 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights. A Minister of the Crown is entitled to join any proceedings where the Court is considering whether to make a declaration of incompatibility. The Secretary of State for Health has now given formal notice of his intention to join the proceedings to assist the court on these matters.

Cancer Research

John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when his Department plans to complete its evaluation of the SunSmart campaign; and when he will decide the amount of funds Cancer Research UK will receive to continue the campaign.

Melanie Johnson: Evaluation of the SunSmart campaign is being undertaken on an on-going basis. Cancer Research UK is working on a plan for future activity on the basis of lessons learned from the underpinning qualitative research by the University of Strathclyde, which was completed in September 2003. Decisions on the funding of a future campaign will be taken in due course.

Civil Servants

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much space, expressed in square metres, the Department occupies for the offices of civil servants in (a) central London and (b) Greater London.

Rosie Winterton: The Department and its Executive Agencies occupies 71,369 m 2 in Central London for the offices of civil servants and an additional 1,904 m 2 in Greater London.

Ectopic Pregnancy

Jane Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of deaths from ectopic pregnancy; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Ladyman: The Department is currently preparing a national service framework for children, which will include standards for maternity care, including the management of problems in early pregnancy. It also currently provides Section 64 support for the organisation The Ectopic Pregnancy Trust, which provides information, support and advice to those affected by ectopic pregnancy, and works to raise awareness. Details of the grants provided are shown in the following tables.
	
		Core grant
		
			  £ 
		
		
			 2000–01 20,000 
			 2001–02 20,000 
			 2002–03 10,00 
		
	
	
		Project grant for the Chlamydia and Ectopic Pregnancy project
		
			  £ 
		
		
			 2001–02 9,500 
			 2002–03 9,500 
			 2003–04 9,500

Food Supplements Directive

Brian Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  whether the Minister for Public Health has set a date for his proposed meeting with Commissioner Byrne to discuss the interpretation of Article 5 of the Food Supplements Directive;.
	(2)  if he will list the dates when he expects that Ministers from his Department will meet their counterparts in each of the Member and Candidate States of the European Union to discuss the interpretation of Article 5 of the Food Supplements Directive; which officials will accompany Ministers at each of those meetings; what main points he expects will be made; and if he will make a statement.

Melanie Johnson: Article 5 of the Food Supplements Directive lays out a framework for the future setting of maximum permitted levels of vitamins and minerals in food supplements, The European Commission has not yet made a proposal listing European Union maximum permitted levels for vitamins and minerals in food supplements and we do not expect it to do so for another two to three years.
	The United Kingdom continues to take every opportunity to press its view that maximum levels should be set on a safety basis. I am seeking to arrange a discussion with Commissioner Byrne at the earliest practical opportunity.

Influenza

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what definition the Department uses of an influenza epidemic;
	(2)  how many reported cases of influenza there were in each of the last five years; and in which of these years the reported level of influenza cases has been classified as an epidemic.

Melanie Johnson: The numbers of influenza-like illnesses reported to the Royal College of General Practitioners in the past five winter seasons are shown in the table.
	In none of these years did the level of general practitioner consultation rate reach 400 per 100,000 of the population, which is the level required to be classed as an epidemic.
	
		
			  Number of influenza like illnesses 
		
		
			 1998–99 10,044 
			 1999–2000 8,513 
			 2000–01 5,901 
			 2001–02 4,111 
			 2002–03 3,541

Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the forecast outcome for the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust is for 2003–04; what assessment has been made of its level of financial risk; and what loans it has (a) taken and (b) applied for from the NHS Bank in 2003–04.

Melanie Johnson: holding answer 27 January 2004
	Audited information on the financial position of national health service trusts will be published in their individual annual accounts. These data will be available centrally in the autumn.
	At the Cumbria and Lancashire Strategic Health Authority (SHA) Board meeting on 20 January 2004, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust reported a deficit of £1.7 million as at the end of December 2003. The SHA has assessed the financial risk and is forecasting a break even position for the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust at the end of the financial year 2003–04.
	The SHA has not made an application to the NHS Bank on behalf of the trust in 2003–04.

Long-term Care

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  pursuant to his answer of 20 January 2004, Official Report, column 1110W, on personal care charges, what the sources of the estimate are; and if he will place in the Library the assumptions and analysis from which this estimate was derived;
	(2)  pursuant to his answer of 20 January 2004, Official Report, columns 1110–11W, on long-term care, what the evidential basis is for his estimate; and if he will place in the Library the assumptions and analysis from which this estimate was derived.

Stephen Ladyman: The estimate for the cost of introducing free personal care was prepared by Department of Health economists using a variety of data and assumptions. An explanatory note has been placed in the Library.

Mental Health

Helen Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the relationship between the criminal guardianship powers in the Mental Health Act 1983 and the community treatment orders proposed in the Draft Mental Health Bill 2002.

Rosie Winterton: Like the guardianship order, the proposed power—that the courts would make a mental health order without requiring residence in hospital— could enable people who needed treatment subject to sanction to receive it without resort to detention in hospital. Unlike the guardianship order, the proposed power would enable the admission of the person to hospital for compulsory treatment in the event of that becoming necessary for his own health or safety or that of others.

Mental Health

Helen Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the target groups of people with mental health problems who will be helped by the introduction of community treatment orders.

Rosie Winterton: The provisions in the draft Mental Health Bill for formal powers to be used in the community are based on the principle of least restriction. When treating someone for mental disorder under formal powers, the restriction of their liberty should be the minimum necessary, taking into account all their circumstances and the need to protect themselves or others. The conditions setting out the circumstances in which formal powers may be used, must always be satisfied, whether treatment is to be provided in hospital or in the community. The power to impose requirements on patients in the community will however, in some circumstances, avoid patients having to go to hospital if appropriate alternative arrangements can be made.
	The most important group that it is intended that these powers would be used for is people who have a history of admission to hospital, improvement and discharge, followed by relapse (known as "revolving door" patients). Currently there may be no alternative to renewed admission to hospital. Where someone is well known to services it may not be necessary for them to be reassessed and treated in hospital. Treatment under a regime of conditions and requirements in the community may be more appropriate and avoid the distress of repeated unplanned admissions to hospital.
	These powers would also be available for those whose mental condition has improved while being treated under compulsion in hospital and for whom formal treatment in the community would provide a supportive transition, helping to prevent patients relapsing on discharge from hospital. There may also be other individual cases in which treatment under compulsion in the community would be more appropriate.
	Formal treatment in the community will also be an option for the Court to consider for mentally disordered offenders. It is intended that convicted offenders who require treatment for mental disorder could benefit if the court is satisfied that they do not need to be detained and clinicians confirm that treatment appropriate for the individual is available in the community.
	The decision that compulsory treatment in the community is appropriate should always be based on the careful assessment of what is the most suitable way to treat and care for individual patients, taking into account all the circumstances of each individual case.

National Service Framework for Children

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to publish the National Service Framework for children.

Stephen Ladyman: The national service framework for children, young people and maternity services will be published later this year.

Osteoporosis

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what therapies other than Raloxifen will be provided by the NHS to patients suffering from osteoporosis.

Stephen Ladyman: There are a wide range of treatments available for patients suffering from osteoporosis. Some prevent bone breakdown and stimulate new bone formation while others help maintain bone density and reduce fracture rates. Individuals will receive treatment which best meets their needs.

Rainbows Children's Hospice (Leicestershire)

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will visit Rainbows Children's Hospice in Leicestershire.

Stephen Ladyman: Minister will be pleased to consider an invitation to visit from the Rainbows Children's Hospice in Leicestershire.

Telephone Masts

Michael Spicer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what plans he has to set up a public inquiry into the health effects of G3 technology telephone masts;
	(2)  if he will make a statement on the health effects of G3 technology telephone masts.

Melanie Johnson: Government advice on mobile phones and health is based on the Stewart Report, issued in May 2000 (www.iegmp.org.uk ). In respect of base stations they concluded:
	The balance of evidence indicates that there is no general risk to the health of people living near to base stations on the basis that exposures are expected to be small fractions of guidelines.
	The operators of mobile telephone equipment including 3rd Generation (3G) systems should ensure that public exposure does not exceed the guidelines of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection. Measurements undertaken by the Radiocommunications Agency, now part of OFCOM (www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/ra/rahome.htm), have confirmed that public exposures are very much lower than the international guidelines.
	The National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) has statutory responsibility for providing overall advice on health risks from exposure to electromagnetic fields including radio waves. Research published since the Stewart Report, including research on 3G effects, has been reviewed by the NRPB's Advisory Group on Non-ionising Radiation. Their review was announced on 14 January 2004 and concludes that
	"The weight of evidence now available does not suggest that there are adverse health effects from exposures to RF (radiofrequency) fields below guideline levels, but the published research on RF exposures and health has limitations, and mobile phones have only been in widespread use for a relatively short time."
	The report is available on the NRPB web site at: http://www.nrpb.org./ review/docs nrpb/absdl4–2.htm. Copies have been placed in the Library.

CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Extradition

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what steps are taken to satisfy district judges that each person consenting to extradition has had access to legal advice.

Christopher Leslie: Sections 45 and 127 of the Extradition Act 2003 state that a person may not give his consent to extradition unless he is legally represented. However, a sane person cannot be compelled to take legal advice if they do not wish it.
	All defendants who waive legal advice either have the means, or have been offered legal aid, to obtain it, but have taken a decision not to do so. The Senior District Judge at Bow Street Magistrates Court has confirmed that no District Judge would permit a defendant to waive legal advice without satisfying him or herself that this requirement is met, and that the defendant has full understanding of the consequences of his decision.
	In practice, all defendants in extradition proceedings are represented, either by their own solicitor, or by the court's duty solicitor, to whom they will have access.

Burglary

Vera Baird: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs in how many and what proportion of cases resulting in convictions for (a) house burglary and (b) aggravated house burglary, bail was granted before conviction in each of the last six years.

Christopher Leslie: The number and proportion of defendants convicted in the Crown Court of either burglary or aggravated burglary of a dwelling, and who had been committed on bail by the magistrates' court are provided in the following table.
	
		Convictions for offences of burglary and aggravated burglary in dwellings, and those defendants committed on bail by the magistrates' court, in the Crown Court, 1998–2003
		
			  Convicted Committed on bail Proportion (per cent.) 
			 Year Burglary Aggravated burglary Burglary Aggravated burglary Burglary Aggravated burglary 
		
		
			 1998 8,995 318 4,268 115 47.4 36.2 
			 1999 8,266 271 3,746 108 45.3 39.9 
			 2000 7,546 255 3,573 79 47.3 31.0 
			 2001 6,435 265 3,007 99 46.7 37.4 
			 2002 6,905 341 3,189 107 46.2 31.4 
			 2003 7,061 301 3,232 75 45.8 24.9 
		
	
	Note:
	Figures relate to number of defendants

Burglary

Vera Baird: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many and what proportion of convictions for (a) burglary of a house and (b) aggravated burglary of a house resulted in a gaol sentence in each of the last six years.

Christopher Leslie: The number and proportion of defendants convicted of either burglary or aggravated burglary of a dwelling, and who received a custodial sentence in each of the last six years are provided in the following table.
	
		Convictions and custodial sentences for offences of burglary and aggravated burglary in dwellings, in the Crown Court, 1998–2003
		
			  Convicted Custodial sentence  Proportion (per cent.) 
			 Year Burglary Aggravated burglary Burglary Aggravated burglary Burglary Aggravated burglary 
		
		
			  
			  
			 1998 8,995 318 6,389 302 71.0 95.0 
			 1999 8,266 271 6,070 270 73.4 99.6 
			 2000 7,546 255 5,309 238 70.4 93.3 
			 2001 6,435 265 4,564 261 70.9 98.5 
			 2002 6,905 341 4,730 322 68.5 94.4 
			 2003 7,061 301 4,530 264 64.2 87.7 
		
	
	Note:
	Figures relate to number of defendants

Correspondence

Steve Webb: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs when he will reply to the letter of 29 August 2003 from the hon. Member for Northavon, forwarded to him by the Department for Work and Pensions, reference 142208, regarding Mr. Dicker.

David Lammy: I shall reply to the hon. Member as soon as possible.

Information Technology

Richard Allan: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what cost savings have been made in the Department since the introduction of the Information Technology Procurement Centre of Excellence; and how these were calculated.

Christopher Leslie: My Department established a centre of excellence covering all programmes and projects, including IT and procurement programmes and projects, in June 2003. The centre of excellence reviewed all pre-existing programmes and projects in October 2003 and identified £6.9 million savings that were made immediately. Further savings and other cost benefits will not accrue until planned improvements begin to take effect.

Legal Aid

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what recent changes have been made to the provision of public funding to suspects before charge.

David Lammy: No changes have been made to the provision of Criminal Defence Service (formerly criminal legal aid) funding to suspects before charge. However the Department for Constitutional Affairs consulted last year on proposals to improve value for money in the CDS and will shortly be announcing the result of the consultation.

Public Bodies (Membership)

Keith Vaz: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs who the members of the (a) Imperial College Governing Body, (b) Court of UMIST, (c) Court of the University of Hull, (d) Court of the University of Sussex and (e) Court of the University of Ulster were on 1 January; what their term of office is in each case; and what their remuneration is.

Christopher Leslie: The Privy Council appointees for the bodies mentioned and their terms of office are set out as follows:
	Imperial College—term of office 4 years
	Field Marshall Lord Vincent
	Trevor Phillips OBE
	Ms Charlotte L. Chothia
	Balram Gidoomal
	Sir Alastair Morton
	Sir Peter Williams CBE
	UMIST—term of office 3 years:
	Denis Robson
	Miss Dawn Gibbins MBE
	Geoffrey Galley
	Keith Beckett
	University of Hull—term of office 3 years:
	Lord Haskins
	John Trebble
	Michael Hollingbery
	University of Sussex—term of office 3 years:
	Mark Burrell
	Mrs. Gail Rebuck
	James Brathwaite CBE
	University of Ulster—term of office 4 years:
	The Lord Glentoran CBE
	Mrs. Bernadette Grant
	How Universities remunerate the members of their councils is not a matter for the Privy Council Office, but this information should be available from the bodies themselves.

Public Bodies (Membership)

Keith Vaz: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs who the members of the (a) Court of Victoria University of Manchester, (b) General Medical Council, (c) Royal Council of Veterinary Surgeons and (d) Royal College of Court were on 1 January; what their term of office is in each case; and what their remuneration is.

Christopher Leslie: The Privy Council appointees for the bodies mentioned and their terms of office are set out as follows:
	Victoria University of Manchester—term of office three years
	Dame Valerie Strachan DCB
	Dr. Inayat Khan Babar
	Colonel John Bradford Timmins QBE TD JP
	Ms Dawn Peters
	Anthony Nixon
	General Medical Council—term of office four years
	Kevin Baron MP
	The Very Reverend Graham Forbes
	Robert Nicholls
	Ruth Evans
	Dr. Arun Midha
	Mrs. Patricia Moberly
	David Bean
	Sir Michael Buckley
	Mrs. Gillian Camm
	Stuart Heatherington
	Robin McLeod
	Dr. Joan Martin
	Fiona Peel
	Ann Robinson
	Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons—term of office four years
	James M. Scudamore
	F. Brian Jennings
	Mr. Martyn Jones MP
	Mrs. Barbara Saunders
	Royal College of Art—term of office three years
	Dr. Kenneth Grange CBE
	How these bodies remunerate the members of their councils is not a matter for the Privy Council Office, but this information should be available from the bodies themselves.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Heathfield Transmitter

Nigel Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when she expects that work on the Heathfield Transmitter will take place; and if she will make a statement.

Estelle Morris: The responsibility to convert the transmitter network to digital lies with broadcasters. As there are not enough frequencies to broadcast both analogue and digital signals with sufficient power levels throughout the country, digital reception will not be available in Eastbourne before digital switchover. We are committed to switchover, which we believe could be achieved between 2006 and 2010, but we are not yet in a position to decide a firm timetable.

Heritage Lottery Funding (Trafford)

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much Heritage Lottery funding has been awarded in the Trafford Metropolitan Council area in each of the last five years.

Estelle Morris: The Heritage Lottery Fund has awarded the following in the Trafford Metropolitan Council area in each of the last five years:
	
		
			 Financial year £ 
		
		
			 1997–98 225,000 
			 1998–99 32,800 
			 1999–2000 nil 
			 2000–01 91,000 
			 2001–02 25,000 
			 2002–03 nil

TREASURY

R and D Tax Credits

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the Answer of 19 January 2004, Official Report, column 1044W, on research and development tax credits, how many claims for research and development tax credits from companies have been (a) accepted and (b) rejected by the Inland Revenue; and if he will make a statement.

Dawn Primarolo: holding answer 29 January 2004
	The figure of over 8,000 claims given in the first of my answers of 19 January 2004, Official Report, column 1044W, represents the number of Corporation Tax Self Assessment returns where companies have claimed research and development tax credits. The number of claims that have been adjusted following an inquiry by Inland Revenue is not available.

Business Tax Credits

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many businesses notified the Inland Revenue of their intention to claim tax credits in future financial years when trading at a profit as a result of trading losses, in the most recent year for which figures are available; and what the total sum of tax credits so notified was.

Ruth Kelly: Loss making small companies can in certain circumstances choose to either claim payable credits under the research and development tax credit scheme or instead claim enhanced tax relief in future accounting periods.
	Information on the number of such companies that have chosen to claim the enhanced tax relief and the amount of this relief is not available.

Gangmasters (Agriculture)

Michael Connarty: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much in unpaid (a) income tax and (b) national insurance contributions has been recovered from gangmasters operating in the UK's agricultural sector since 1994.

Dawn Primarolo: The Inland Revenue does not keep a separate record of recoveries of unpaid income tax and National Insurance Contributions from agricultural gangmasters. It would be disproportionately expensive to provide it.

Customs and Excise

Andrew George: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what (a) budgets have been agreed and (b) costs have been incurred in fulfilling HM Customs and Excise obligations in respect of ports and airports (i) in the south east of England and (ii) elsewhere for each of the last six years for which records are available;
	(2)  how much HM Customs and Excise has spent on (a) travel, (b) accommodation, (c) subsistence and (d) other costs in respect of the establishment of mobile teams to support its work at ports and airports in (i) the south east of England and (ii) elsewhere for each of the last six years for which records are available;
	(3)  what budget has been agreed for the creation of mobile Customs and Excise teams to cover ports and airports; and how much has been budgeted for (a) travel costs, (b) accommodation, (c) subsistence allowance and (d) other costs related to the expense of establishing the service and re-deploying staff.

John Healey: holding answer 26 January 2004
	HM Customs and Excise reorganised in April 2001, creating a Law Enforcement (LE) arm of approximately 7,500 officers. LE staff perform the majority of Customs operational activity at ports and airports in the UK. One of the aims of this restructuring and the subsequent LE business plan for 2003 to 2006 is to build a more intelligence-led, mobile and flexible workforce. The south region includes the south-east, south-west and central southern England.
	The following table gives the authorised expenditure of the LE organisation on salaries, travel and subsistence and other running costs. These costs exclude the intelligence operational arm which is not managed on a comparable regional basis. Comparative data are not available for the years prior to the creation of Law Enforcement.
	
		£ million
		
			  Authorised regional spend of which: Travel and subsistence(8) 
		
		
			 2001–02 outturn   
			 South region 62.9 2.3 
			 Elsewhere 148.9 7.7 
			
			 2002–03 outturn   
			 South region 63.9 2.3 
			 Elsewhere 144.3 8.4 
			
			 2003–04 forecast   
			 South region 62.4 2.5 
			 Elsewhere 143.7 8.2 
		
	
	(8) Includes costs for travel, temporary accommodation and subsistence costs.
	Note:
	Separate figures are not available in the format requested.

Customs and Excise

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the Acting Chairman of HM Customs and Excise will reply to the letter of 27 October 2003 from the hon. Member for Chesham and Amersham about the Chalfont St. Giles Bowling Club.

John Healey: Customs and Excise replied to the hon. Member's letter on 29 January 2004.

Inland Revenue

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what targets have been set for the answering of correspondence by the Inland Revenue.

Dawn Primarolo: The targets for post in local tax areas in 2003–04 are:
	80 per cent. of post worked within 15 working days.
	95 per cent. of post worked within 40 working days.
	80 per cent. of post worked within 15 working days dealt with completely and correctly.

Inland Revenue

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much correspondence to the Inland Revenue at present remains unanswered after (a) three, (b) six and (c) nine months.

Dawn Primarolo: The Inland Revenue does not keep records on this basis. The current target for local tax areas is to work 80 per cent. of post (which includes correspondence and other items) within 15 working days and 95 per cent. of post within 40 working days.

Labour Productivity Levels

John Redwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what action the Government is planning to improve labour productivity levels.

John Healey: The Government are committed to raising the rate of UK productivity growth over the economic cycle, improving competitiveness and narrowing the productivity gap with the US, France and Germany. The Government's approach to raising productivity is set out in "Productivity in the UK: The Evidence and the Government's Approach", which was published alongside the 2000 pre-Budget Report.
	The Government reports on steps to increase productivity in every Budget and pre-Budget Report. Recent key steps include the introduction of the Enterprise Act 2002, the introduction of R&D tax credits, the reduction of corporation tax rates, implementation of major reforms to capital gains tax, proposals for new Enterprise Capital Funds to increase venture capital investment for small businesses with high-growth potential, increased investment to raise standards in education and to improve adult skills, and a comprehensive review of capital markets through the Myners, Sandler and Higgs reviews.

Foreign Earnings Deduction

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions his Department has had with representatives of the shipping industry to discuss plans to prevent workers on offshore installations from receiving the foreign earnings deduction benefit; and if he will make a statement.

Dawn Primarolo: The intention of Foreign Earnings Deduction (FED) is to encourage seafarers to work on UK ships which can be called upon in time of conflict. Some workers on offshore installations are exploiting FED to seek a tax relief that was never intended for them. As announced in the pre-Budget Report, we will be introducing amendments to the legislation to make it clear that workers on offshore installations are not entitled to this relief and officials have begun discussions with industry representatives.

Foreign Earnings Deduction

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to limit the entitlement to foreign earnings deductions for seafarers serving on ships registered in the UK or other EU countries; and what assessment his Department has made of the impact such a change would have on the UK shipping sector.

Dawn Primarolo: In the pre-Budget Report (Cm 6042), it was announced that there would be changes in the Foreign Earnings Deduction to prevent workers on offshore installations claiming the relief. Any changes beyond this would follow consultation with the shipping industry and trade unions and be consistent with the Government's continuing support for the UK shipping industry.

Pension Funds

Steve Webb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the levels of public sector pension fund deficits.

Paul Boateng: Information is not held centrally on all the pension schemes of public sector employers, which include schemes provided by public corporations and other bodies in addition to the major schemes established by statute for public service occupations. Among the major statutory schemes those for the civil service, NHS, teachers, police, fire and armed forces are unfunded and the only major public service scheme that has funds is the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). The LGPS is supported by individual funds held at local level. The last triennial valuations of these funds for England and Wales were conducted in 2001 and showed an actuarial value of aggregate assets of £85.3 billion being held against liabilities of £91.5 billion, giving a deficit of £6.2 billion. All the LGPS funds met the solvency requirements of the scheme.

Project ASPIRE

James Gray: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his Answer of 14 October 2003, Official Report, column 141W, on Project ASPIRE, on what date Inland Revenue first held a meeting to which it invited all suppliers with whom it was engaging in the market-making exercise for Project ASPIRE; and which of the suppliers did not attend.

Dawn Primarolo: As I stated in my answer of 14 October 2003, Official Report, column 140W, the Inland Revenue actively engaged with 14 suppliers in the course of the market-making exercise for Project ASPIRE. My answer provided the names of these companies. These suppliers were offered initial meetings with the Inland Revenue, and these took place during November and December 2001. None of the suppliers directly approached by the Inland Revenue, as part of this exercise, refused the opportunity to discuss the ASPIRE competition.
	An open meeting was held for all interested suppliers on 7 March 2002, which was attended by 42 potential suppliers. No one supplier was directly approached for this meeting, instead the event was advertised through the Inland Revenue's website.

Project ASPIRE

James Gray: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his answer of 16 December 2003, Official Report, column 803W, who the board member responsible for Mr. John Yard's division was; and when he commenced planning for project ASPIRE.

Dawn Primarolo: As I stated in my answer of 16 December 2003, Official Report, column 803W, planning for the ASPIRE project began in January 2001. The Board member responsible for Business Services at that time was Tim Flesher, the Inland Revenue's Deputy Chairman. After Tim Flesher moved to another Government Department in April 2003, Helen Ghosh took on Board level responsibility for Business Services.

Sports Facilities

Charles Hendry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the VAT receipts that would accrue to the Treasury from the construction of new sports facilities associated with the 2012 Olympic bid.

Ruth Kelly: No estimate has been made. By long-standing convention, HM Customs and Excise does not publish details of the VAT collected from individual bodies or in respect of individual transactions. It is for individual bodies to publish any such information as appropriate to their reporting obligations. All construction projects undertaken in the UK are subject to the same set of VAT rules laid out in the VAT Act 1994.

Sports Facilities

Charles Hendry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what level of VAT receipts the Treasury has received from the construction of sports facilities for each year since 1997.

Ruth Kelly: HM Customs and Excise are unable to calculate VAT receipts from the construction of sports facilities. It is not possible to identify specific sources of VAT revenue from VAT returns. Any data available on expenditure on such construction projects would not be sufficient to estimate relevant VAT receipts as the degree to which VAT is due and reclaimable on the construction of sports facilities will vary.

Sunset Clauses

David Stewart: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on his policy on the use of sunset clauses in legislation; and which Acts containing such clauses relevant to his Department were passed in each year since 1997.

Ruth Kelly: HM Treasury, together with the Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise, actively promote the better regulation agenda and the use of sunsetting provisions where appropriate.
	The need for any such provision is considered on a case-by-case basis. Every Finance Act, for example, contains some provisions which apply only for the purposes of the particular tax year to which it relates, and accordingly, these provisions may be considered to be sunset provisions.
	Particular cases of Finance Act sunsetting provisions are section 107(5) of the Finance Act 2001 (which incorporated a sunset provision applicable to that section only) and section 112 of the Finance Act 2003 (which contains a time-limited power, which was exercisable only before the implementation of Part 4 of that Act on 1 December 2003, to amend the provisions of that Part).
	Some of the transitional provisions connected with the coming into force of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 ceased to have effect on a certain date.

Taxable Income

Denzil Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the total value was of the taxable income from employment in each of the last three financial years for which figures are available.

Dawn Primarolo: The latest information is contained in table 3.6 on the Inland Revenue website http://www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/stats/income distribution/pi t06 1.htm. For earlier financial years I refer my hon. Friend to paper copies of Inland Revenue Statistics table 3.6 which are available in the House of Commons Library. These estimates are based upon the Survey of Personal Incomes.

Thalidomide Victims

Norman Lamb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress is being made in discussions with the Thalidomide Trust with regard to the tax treatment of payments to victims.

Dawn Primarolo: Discussions between the trustees of the Thalidomide Trust and officials of the Inland Revenue about the tax treatment of payments to beneficiaries of the trust are continuing. No conclusion has yet been reached.

DEFENCE

Air Defence Destroyers

Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the (a) current and (b) planned requirements are for the number of air defence destroyers.

Adam Ingram: There are currently 11 Royal Navy Type 42 air defence destroyers. There are six Type 45 destroyers currently on order. Decisions about further orders of Type 45s are not expected until the middle of this decade.

Aircraft Carriers

Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the planned paying-off dates are for each of the fleet's aircraft carriers.

Adam Ingram: The planned decommissioning dates for the Royal Navy's Invincible class aircraft carriers are listed as follows:
	HMS Invincible: 2010
	HMS Illustrious: 2012
	HMS Ark Royal: 2013

Dismounted Countermine Capability Programme

Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on progress on the Army's proposed Dismounted Countermine Capability programme.

Adam Ingram: The Dismounted Countermine Capability (DCMC) programme is intended to provide dismounted personnel with an improved capability to locate and deal with anti personnel (AP) and anti tank (AT) mines. DCMC seeks to provide a solution based on the need to detect mines, mark individual mines and areas of mine contamination, neutralise individual mines, and communicate information about these actions to other forces on the battlefield.
	DCMC gained Initial Gate approval in March 2003. In August 2003, following a competitive downselection, Thales Missile Electronics was awarded a contract to complete a Study Assessment Programme. Initial work suggests that a technological answer to the problem of detecting minimum metal and non metallic mines (modern mines made from plastics and other non metal materials) is likely to be feasible.

HMS Bridport

Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for how long HMS Bridport was laid up; and for what reason.

Adam Ingram: HMS Bridport has been in a state of extended readiness since March 2002. This was a programming decision made as part of the routine management of the fleet.

HMS Enterprise

Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what elements of the propulsion system of HMS Enterprise have been transferred to HMS Echo; and whether his Department is seeking compensation from the contractor following technical problems with HMS Enterprise.

Adam Ingram: HMS Enterprise's Azipod Propulsors were transferred to HMS Echo in October 2003 in order to expedite her entry into service with the Royal Navy. The Department and Prime Contractor are currently negotiating over liability and compensation for the problems that gave rise to this transfer.

Iraq

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many cluster bombs have been defused in Iraq by bomb disposal squads since 1 May 2003; and if he will make a statement.

Adam Ingram: To date around 675,000 munitions have been cleared in the UK area of responsibility. We do not record individual types of munitions cleared.

Lieutenant Lewis Page

Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether Lieutenant Lewis Page was given authorisation while a serving officer to publish an article in Prospect magazine.

Ivor Caplin: Lieutenant Page was not properly authorised to publish this article.

RAF Bicester

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many accidents there were at RAF Bicester in the last five years; how many involved gliders or training aircraft; and if he will make a statement.

Ivor Caplin: The following table details incidents that have occurred at RAF Bicester over the last five years. The table includes incidents involving other users of the airfield, notably Oxford University Gliding Club. All the incidents occurred within the confines of Bicester airfield and none resulted in any injuries.
	
		
			 SER No Date Agency Glider type Description of incident 
		
		
			 1. 31 May 1998 Oxford University GC Oxford University GC K21 Ground incident when winch cable snagged glider. Minor damage to glider, but no injuries. 
			 2. 11 June 1999 Joint Service Adventurous Training Gliding RAF Gliding and Soaring Association K21 Ground loop on landing when wing tip makes contact with ground. Minor damage to glider, but no injuries. 
			 3. 11 May 2001 Oxford University GC Oxford University GC K18 Ground incident in that tractor ran over wingtip. Minor damage to glider, but no injuries. 
			 4. 23 May 2001 Oxford University GC Oxford University GC K21 Early solo student allowed undershoot to develop, clipping a tree resulting in a ground loop (See Ser No 2). Major damage to glider, but no injuries. 
			 5. 23 May 2001 Joint Service Adventurous Training Gliding RAF Gliding and Soaring Association K21 Heavy landing. Minor damage to glider, but no injuries. 
			 6. 25 May 2003 British Gliding Association Visitor Discus Ground incident where glider was towed into wingtip contact with another glider. Minor damage to one of the gliders, but no injuries. 
			 7. 25 August 2003 Oxford University GC RAF Gliding and Soaring Association Astir CS GRP Pilot allowed undershoot to develop. Glider ploughed through hedge onto the airfield. Major damage to glider and hedge, but no injuries.

Reservists

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many reservists mobilised for operational service under (a) Operation Telic 1 and (b) Operation Telic 2 under the provisions of the Reserve Forces Act 1996 have lost their jobs since returning from service; what his Department did to support them in retaining their employment rights; and if he will make a statement.

Ivor Caplin: There is no requirement for reservists to provide the information requested to the Ministry of Defence. There is, therefore, no comprehensive record of the numbers of reservists who may have lost their civilian job. However, indications are that civilian employers have been very supportive of reservists and, of over 8,600 reservists called-out to support Op Telic, we are aware of only 14 individuals who have brought cases under the 1985 Act.
	The Ministry of Defence provides detailed advice to demobilising reservists to ensure that they are aware of their legal right to reclaim their civilian employment. The Supporting Britain's Reservists and Employers (SaBRE) campaign team provides a help line and a website which gives additional information and advice. Also, each Reserve Forces and Cadet Association (RFCA) has an Employment Support Executive who is able to offer advice and assistance to reservists who are experiencing problems returning to their civilian employment.

Reservists

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what provision is being made to ensure that life insurance and other financial services made available to reservists being mobilised for operational service in Iraq are of a similar standard and as affordable as those offered to reservists mobilised under Operation Telic 1; and if he will make a statement.

Ivor Caplin: The only financial service specifically for reservists which MOD facilitates is RPAX, which provide personal accident and life cover—there is a similar product, PAX, for regulars. RPAX was available to reservists mobilised under Operation Telic 1, and is still available now. Information about RPAX was then and still is advised to individual reservists and units.

Scottish Regiments

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the Scottish Regiments; what their authorised strength was; and how many vacancies there were in each year since 1997.

Ivor Caplin: The establishment, trained strength and difference, of each of the Scottish Regiments, are as follows:
	
		Highlanders
		
			  Establishment Trained strength Difference 
		
		
			 1997 660 615 -45 
			 1998 660 585 -75 
			 1999 660 505 -155 
			 2000 660 500 -160 
			 2001 610 495 -115 
			 2002(9) 665 520 -145 
			 2003(9) 625 520 -105 
		
	
	(9) Strength totals for 2002 and 2003 exclude Gurkhas attached to the regiment: 100 in 2002, and 110 in 2003.
	
		Black Watch
		
			  Establishment Trained strength Difference 
		
		
			 1997 595 515 -80 
			 1998 595 540 -55 
			 1999 595 510 -85 
			 2000 705 510 -195 
			 2001 670 565 -105 
			 2002 675 535 -140 
			 2003 675 585 -90 
		
	
	Note:
	Black Watch totals exclude BW LAD REME.
	
		Royal Scots
		
			  Establishment Trained strength Difference 
		
		
			 1997 665 495 -170 
			 1998 665 510 -155 
			 1999 665 470 -195 
			 2000 595 470 -125 
			 2001 610 515 -95 
			 2002 620 495 -125 
			 2003 620 525 -95 
		
	
	
		Royal Highland Fusiliers
		
			  Establishment Trained strength Difference 
		
		
			 1997 705 595 -110 
			 1998 705 620 -85 
			 1999 705 580 -125 
			 2000 595 625 30 
			 2001 605 530 -75 
			 2002 620 530 -90 
			 2003 620 540 -80 
		
	
	
		King's Own Scottish Borderers
		
			  Establishment Trained strength Difference 
		
		
			 1997 595 545 -50 
			 1998 595 565 -30 
			 1999 595 505 -90 
			 2000 595 550 -45 
			 2001 640 585 -55 
			 2002 620 645 25 
			 2003 665 630 -35 
		
	
	
		Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
		
			  Establishment Trained strength Difference 
		
		
			 1997 595 555 -40 
			 1998 595 595 0 
			 1999 595 600 5 
			 2000 595 600 5 
			 2001 610 590 -20 
			 2002 620 580 -40 
			 2003 625 575 -50 
		
	
	
		Royal Scots Dragoon Guards
		
			  Establishment Trained strength Difference 
		
		
			 1997 410 385 -25 
			 1998 410 370 -40 
			 1999 410 370 -40 
			 2000 410 405 -5 
			 2001 500 415 -85 
			 2002 495 440 -55 
			 2003 500 475 -25 
		
	
	Note:
	RSDG totals exclude LAD REME.
	
		Scots Guards
		
			  Establishment Trained strength Difference 
		
		
			 1997 595 530 -65 
			 1998 595 520 -75 
			 1999 595 530 -65 
			 2000 595 560 -35 
			 2001 610 645 35 
			 2002 625 565 -60 
			 2003 625 565 -60 
		
	
	
		F Coy Scots Guards
		
			  Establishment Trained strength Difference 
		
		
			 1997 105 85 -20 
			 1998 105 100 -5 
			 1999 105 95 -10 
			 2000 105 115 10 
			 2001 105 100 -5 
			 2002 105 115 10 
			 2003 110 115 5 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. The figures are at 1 January each year.
	2. All figures have been rounded to the nearest 5.
	3. Totals are for Regular Army Officers and Soldiers.
	4. FTRS have been excluded.
	5. Totals include members of other Arms/Services attached to the regiment but exclude the 2 REME LADs attached to BW and SDG.
	6. Historical establishments for F Coy Scots Gds to be confirmed.

Service Medals

Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the General Service Medal with Canal Zone clasp will be awarded to service men and women in the constituency of the hon. Member for Sittingbourne and Sheppey.

Ivor Caplin: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 5 November 2003, Official Report, column 634W, to my hon. Friend the Member for Chorley (Mr. Hoyle).

Trident Programme

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence in what circumstances the Government would (a) deploy Trident nuclear weapons and (b) deploy Trident nuclear missiles on a first strike basis.

Geoff Hoon: As the Government have made clear on many occasions, we would be prepared to use nuclear weapons only in extreme circumstances of self-defence. As our overall strategy is to ensure uncertainty in the mind of any aggressor about the exact nature of our response, and thus to maintain effective deterrence, we do not define the exact circumstances under which we would be prepared to use nuclear weapons.
	We would not use our weapons, whether conventional or nuclear, contrary to international law.

Trident Programme

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which threats the UK's Trident nuclear weapons are (a) intended to deter and (b) targeted against.

Geoff Hoon: I refer the hon. Member to paragraph 3.11 of the Defence White Paper published in December 2003 (Cm 6041). The UK's nuclear weapons are not targeted at any country.

Trident Programme

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the role of the Trident programme is in combating international terrorism.

Geoff Hoon: As the Government have made clear on many occasions, we would be prepared to use nuclear weapons only in extreme circumstances of self-defence. I also refer the hon. Member to paragraph 21 of the SDR New Chapter, published in July 2002 (Cm 5566 vol. 1), where we stated that:
	'The UK's nuclear weapons have a continuing use as a means of deterring major strategic military threats, and they have a continuing role in guaranteeing the ultimate security of the UK. But we also want it to be clear, particularly to the leaders of states of concern and terrorist organisations, that all our forces play a part in deterrence, and that we have a broad range of responses available.'

Trident Programme

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the UK's Trident nuclear weapons system is due to come to the end of its service period; when a decision is due on whether to commission a new UK nuclear weapons system to replace the Trident programme when it comes to the end of its service period; and what consultation will be undertaken in advance of a decision on replacement.

Geoff Hoon: I refer the hon. Member to paragraph 3.11 of the Defence White Paper published in December 2003 (Cm 6041). Any decision on the UK's future nuclear deterrent capability will be open to scrutiny and debate in the normal way.

Unexploded Cluster Bombs

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) adults and (b) children under 16 have been (i) killed and (ii) maimed by unexploded cluster bombs dropped by British aircraft in (A) Kosovo, (B) Afghanistan and (C) Iraq since their invasion by coalition forces.

Adam Ingram: UK aircraft have not dropped cluster bombs in Afghanistan.
	We have no viable means of ascertaining the information for either Kosovo or Iraq.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Civil Servants (Disabled People)

Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will set out the number of employees in his Department who have a disability, broken down by disability type.

Charles Clarke: My Department is an active member of the Cabinet Office led Civil Service Disability Working Group, which was set up in January 2003 to look at disability collection issues, monitoring and non-declaration.
	Over 5 per cent. (280) of staff employed in my Department have recorded a disability.
	Information on the numbers by type of disability is set out in the table. Details are not published where the numbers are below five in order to protect the privacy of the individual, in line with Exemption 12 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.
	
		
			 Disability type Number 
		
		
			 Hearing impairment 43 
			 Learning difficulties 7 
			 Mental illness 5 
			 Mobility impairment 47 
			 Physical coordination difficulties 5 
			 Reduced physical capacity 51 
			 Visual impairment 20 
			 Unknown disability 66 
		
	
	The statistics exclude DfES staff in the Government Office network with a recorded disability where a breakdown by disability type could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Global Gateway for Learning

Tim Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on development of the Global Gateway for Learning since the Commonwealth Education Ministers' Conference in October 2003.

Charles Clarke: Development of the Global Gateway has continued on schedule since last October. The Global Gateway will be a new one-stop-shop website for UK schools on all aspects of international education. It will also enable UK schools and schools from across the world to develop effective partnerships (e.g. joint curriculum projects, professional development, collaborative opportunities etc.) through a school linking facility. I am pleased to announce that I will formally launch the website on 10 February 2004.

Information Technology

Richard Allan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what cost savings have been made in his Department since the introduction of the Information Technology Procurement Centre of Excellence; and how these were calculated.

Charles Clarke: A Centre of Excellence in Programme and Project Management was established within the Department for Education and Skills in August 2002, to improve the planning and management of improvements in the education system. In June 2003, its remit was extended to integrate the essential functions which underpin the successful delivery of all types of acquisition based programmes and projects (including those concerned with procuring IT). As cost benefits for IT procurements will not accrue until improvements start to take effect, it is too early to measure cost savings. All Centres of Excellence are currently developing future plans and as part of this process methods for measuring savings are being worked out.

Jenny Gray

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the (a) position and (b) role is of Jenny Gray, a civil servant in his Department.

Charles Clarke: holding answer 26 January 2004
	It is not our policy to comment on the position of individual civil servants.

University for Industry

Phil Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which targets have been set by Government for the University for Industry; and what progress has been made in meeting them.

Ivan Lewis: holding answer 26 January 2004
	Stretching targets are agreed annually between my Department and Ufi. They are set at challenging levels and are designed to build upon the achievements of previous years and to maintain Ufi's rapid progress.
	The attached table (Annex 1) shows the targets agreed for 2003–04 and the progress made towards them by 31 December 2003.
	
		Annex 1
		
			  Definition 2003–04 Target Position at 31 December 2003 
		
		
			 Number of Learners The total number of learners starting learndirect courses in 2003–04. 450,000 learners 350,953 
			 Number of enrolments The total number of enrolments on learndirect courses in 2003–04 1 million enrolments 602,308 
			 New learners 60 per cent. of learners starting their first learndirect course are 'new learners' (i.e. learners that have not engaged in any other learning in the three years prior to registering with learndirect 60 per cent. of learners 50 per cent. 
			 Workforce Development (1) SMEs Numbers of SMEs sponsoring one or more of their employers on learndirect courses 70,000 SMEs engaged 34,907 
			 Workforce Development (2) SMEs Number of employees in SMEs enrolling on learndirect courses 200,000 enrolments onlearndirect courses 118,575 
			 Course Portfolio Diversification Number of Business and Management course enrolments 112,000 enrolments 90,167 
			 Skills for Life achievement Refers only to achievement of qualifications in England that can be counted towards the Government's 750,000 PSA Skills for Life Target 8,000 achievements 541 
			 Income generation Ufi will generate £3.7 million from the sale of courses unsubsidised with public money to employers and to individuals £3.7 million £995,018 
			 LSC Budget Management Ufi will use its best endeavours to use all the LSC funding allocated for learndirect provision By end 31 March 2004,no less than £151 millionof the £159.5 millionmade available by theLSC for learndirectprovision in the financialyear 2003–04 shall havebeen used for the fundingof learndirect provision £104,338,468 
			 Quality: Hubs and Centres In 2003–04 Ufi/learndirect will achieve an average inspection grade awarded by the Adult Learning Inspectorate of 2.5 Average ALI inspectiongrade of 2.5 2.89 
			 Quality: Learner Satisfaction The percentage of learners satisfied with learndirect 87 per cent. 85 per cent. 
			 Users of the learndirect Information and Advice Service A total of number of helpline callers, web users, emails received and responded to and webchats held 4.7 million 3,726,801 
			 Callers from within Government target range Calls received by learndirect call centres from callers who are eligible to count towards the Government's level 2 PSA target 550,000 240,304 
			 Quality Information and Advice Service Percentage canvassed through a rolling customer satisfaction survey who agreed with the statement: "the overall quality of the service was good" (applicable to all IAS users as defined by agreed volume targets) 87 per cent. 93 per cent.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 
	(1)  when he intends to reply to the letter to him dated 15 December 2003 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr. R. ul Haque Malik;
	(2)  when he will reply to the letter to him dated 15 December 2003 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to R. ul Haque Malik.

Chris Mullin: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary replied on 23 January.

Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 
	(1)  when he intends to reply to the letter to him dated 16 December 2003 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr. Ammar Marfani;
	(2)  when he will reply to the letter to him dated 16 December 2003 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr. Ammar Marfani.

Chris Mullin: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary replied on 26 January.

Correspondence

David Clelland: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he expects to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Tyne Bridge of 8 January.

Chris Mullin: I replied to my hon. Friend's letter of 8 January on 29 January, explaining the delay, advising that the matters he raised were the responsibility of the Home Office and that I had forwarded his letter to my right hon. Friend the Minister of State with responsibility for Citizenship, Immigration and Counter-Terrorism at the Home Office (Beverly Hughes) with a request that it be replied to urgently.

Iraq

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the Government have asked the state from which they obtained intelligence on Iraq's alleged attempt to procure uranium from Africa if they may share that intelligence with (a) the United States Administration and (b) other governments.

Jack Straw: The Government asked the originators of the intelligence that Iraq sought the supply of uranium from Africa to discuss the issue with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The Government understand this was done shortly before the IAEA report of 7 March 2003. I am withholding further details of intelligence exchanges with allies under Exemption 1(c) of Part 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

North Korea

Gary Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what progress has been made with proposals for North Korean students to come to the United Kingdom for cultural and language education to increase links at a sub-governmental level.

Bill Rammell: The Government have no objection to students from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) studying language and culture courses in the UK. Through our policy of engagement with DPRK, we encourage the country to increase its citizens' exposure to the outside world. Our on-going programme of educational activity with DPRK includes Foreign and Commonwealth Office-funded (FCO), UK-based English language courses for DPRK officials, and an FCO-sponsored/British Council-managed English language course for teachers and students in universities in Pyongyang. We also provide educational materials to schools and universities in DPRK.

North Korea

Gary Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps the Government are taking to secure greater access for western non-governmental organisations into the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Bill Rammell: We regularly urge the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) authorities to allow freer and wider access to and within DPRK for western non-governmental organisations (NGOs). We also supported the resolution adopted by the 2003 UN Commission on Human Rights, which calls for free and unimpeded access for NGOs to all parts of DPRK.

North Korea

Gary Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what requests the Government have made to the Government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on access for international inspectors to their prison system.

Bill Rammell: We have raised the issue of prison camps in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) with the DPRK authorities on a number of occasions, through our embassy in Pyongyang and the DPRK embassy in London. We encourage the DPRK Government to allow access to independent international inspectors to verify the reports of human rights violations in their prison system. Requests have been made for access by western diplomats to prisons, but these have yet to be granted.

North Korea

Gary Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps the Government are taking to provide protection for economic and political refugees who leave the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and are hiding in China.

Bill Rammell: We regularly raise the issue of North Korean refugees with the Chinese, including at the biannual UK/China Human Rights Dialogue. At the last round of the Dialogue, on 10–11 November 2003, we urged China to allow the UNHCR access to the border areas and to observe its obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention.
	We will continue to encourage greater co-operation between China and UNHCR on this issue.

North Korea

Gary Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps the Government are taking to assist aid workers in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to obtain timely and unimpeded access to distribute food aid to those people most in need.

Bill Rammell: Most food aid in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is distributed by the World Food Programme (WFP), a UN agency. We work closely with WFP and the resident aid community, and embassy staff travel frequently with WFP on their monitoring missions. We deplore restrictions placed on WFP by the DPRK authorities which limit their monitoring of food aid in many areas of DPRK, and we regularly urge the DPRK authorities to grant WFP full, unrestricted access to all parts of the country. Although the situation is not satisfactory, we welcome WFP reports of improvements in monitoring, access and food distribution systems.

Visas

David Clelland: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what conditions relate to the issuing of visas to nationals of countries in the Indian sub-continent.

Chris Mullin: All entry clearance applications are considered against the relevant requirements of the United Kingdom's Immigration Rules which state that applicants must satisfy an Entry Clearance Officer, on the balance of probabilities, that they meet the requirements of these Rules in the category that they apply. The Rules are applied equally throughout the world, regardless of the nationality of an applicant or the country in which the application is made.

PRIME MINISTER

Officials' Meetings

David Amess: To ask the Prime Minister when and where his officials last met officials from the Egyptian Government.

Tony Blair: The British ambassador, officials from the embassy and other officials meet representatives of the Egyptian Government on a regular basis, in Egypt and in international forums.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Broadband Stakeholder Group

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when she will publish her proposals for a new consultative body to replace the Broadband Stakeholder Group.

Stephen Timms: The Government value the work of the Broadband Stakeholder Group and the significant contribution it has made to the successful development of broadband in the UK. The DTI is reviewing with stakeholders how the work of the BSG might best be taken forward in the future. I will make an announcement when the review has been completed.

Bank of Credit and Commerce International

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the Secretary of State last met the liquidators of BCCI.

Gerry Sutcliffe: Officials met one of the liquidators of BCCI on 4 March 2003 to review the progress of the liquidation.

Bank of Credit and Commerce International

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which liquidators of BCCI the Chief Executive of the Insolvency Service met on 4 March 2003; and for what reason.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The Chief Executive of the Insolvency Service met Mr. John Richards, one of the liquidators of BCCI, on 4 March 2003 to discuss the progress of the liquidation.

Bankruptcies

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many (a) personal and (b) company bankruptcies there were in each of the last three years for which there are records; what assessment she has made of recent trends; and if she will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The following table shows total personal and company insolvencies in England and Wales for 2000 to 2002 and the first three quarters of 2003. Figures for 2003 as a whole will be available on 6 February.
	The latest quarterly figures (Q3 2003) shows decreases in company insolvencies and increases in individual insolvencies, when compared to both the previous quarter and the corresponding quarter of 2002. The latest annual figures continue increasing trends in levels of insolvency since 1997 for both companies and individuals. However the annual rate of company insolvencies for the last 12 months remains at the Q2 level of 1.0 per cent., the lowest level since Q1 1989 and just over a third of the level reached following the recession in the early 1990s.
	
		Insolvencies in England and Wales: Seasonally adjusted
		
			  Company insolvencies Individual insolvencies 
			 Years Total Compulsory liquidations Creditors' voluntary liquidations Total Bankruptcy orders Individual voluntary arrangements(10) 
		
		
			 2000 14,317 4,925 9,392 29,528 21,550 7,978 
			 2001 14,972 4,675 10,297 29,775 23,477 6,298 
			 2002 16,305 6,230 10,075 30,587 24,292 6,295 
			
			 2000   
			 Q1 3,522 1,178 2,344 7,612 5,361 2,251 
			 Q2 3,431 1,242 2,189 7,440 5,326 2,114 
			 Q3 3,775 1,306 2,469 7,200 5,393 1,808 
			 Q4 3,589 1,198 2,391 7,276 5,471 1,805 
			
			 2001   
			 Q1 3,825 1,330 2,495 7,473 5,742 1,730 
			 Q2 3,765 1,296 2,468 7,591 5,994 1,597 
			 Q3 3,692 1,005 2,687 7,324 5,753 1,571 
			 Q4 3,690 1,044 2,646 7,387 5,988 1,399 
			   
			 2002   
			 Q1 4,014 1,376 2,638 7,244 5,808 1,437 
			 Q2 4,130 1,608 2,522 7,596 6,003 1,593 
			 Q3 3,882 1,475 2,407 7,779 6,180 1,600 
			 Q4 4,280 1,772 2,508 7,967 6,302 1,665 
			 2003   
			 Q1 3,672 1,540 2,132 8,146 6,562 1,584 
			 Q2 (11)3,825 (11)1,416 (11)2,409 (11)8,738 (11)6,807 (11)1,931 
			 Q3(12) 3,398 1,153 2,245 9,094 7,086 2,008 
		
	
	(10) Including Deeds of Arrangement.
	(11) Revised, reflecting an amendment to the raw data/update of seasonally adjusted figures.
	(12) Provisional.

Bribery

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what departmental investigations her Department has initiated into bribery allegations against a UK company since November 1997.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The Department's records concerning Companies Acts investigations are not kept in a manner which facilitates provision of the information requested. However, officials do not believe that any such investigations have been initiated into allegations of bribery since November 1997.
	The Department also has a criminal investigation function, established principally to follow up allegations of offences under the Companies and Insolvency Acts. Examination of the records of this section do not reveal any allegations of bribery having been investigated since November 1997.
	Such an allegation would, in most instances, be better suited to be dealt with by the wider powers of the police.

Bribery

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many allegations of bribery have been received by the National Contact Point for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises; and how many of these allegations have been forwarded to the National Criminal Intelligence Service.

Mike O'Brien: The NCP has received one allegation of bribery. The allegation was received verbally while attending a conference. The NCP asked that details be provided in writing; these details were then passed to the National Criminal Intelligence Service.

Buzzard Oil Field Contract

Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the value of the Buzzard oil field contract is; which companies tendered for the contract; what the country of origin of each company is; and which company won the bid.

Stephen Timms: EnCana (UK) Ltd., Operator of the North Sea Buzzard oil field, anticipates that development costs on the project will be around £1.35 billion. There is no single contract to develop this field and the operator, solely responsible for project procurement, is still engaged in the process of awarding more than 200 separate contracts to suppliers from the UK, the wider EU and elsewhere.
	EnCana advise however that UK-owned and UK-based companies have already won around two thirds of over £500 million worth of major contracts awarded on the project. I am pleased to acknowledge the successes of these companies who have again proved themselves competitive internationally. I am also advised that UK-based companies are likely to win yet more work from the contracts currently being tendered.
	The following list gives an indication, in respect of some of the major contracts awarded thus far, of the operational location of those tendering and identifies successful companies. Values of individual tenders, and of contracts placed, are still considered commercially sensitive by the operator EnCana.
	
		
			 Service/Company Operational country Award date 
		
		
			 Front End Studies   
			 Granherne UK  
			 Genesis UK January 2002 
			
			 Engineering Design   
			 John Brown UK August 2002 
			 Brown and Root UK  
			 AMEC UK  
			
			 Jackets   
			 Aker Kvaerner Norway September 2003 
			 Dragados Spain  
			 Heerema Holland  
			 SLP UK—only tenderedthe smallest jacket  
			
			 Wellhead Topsides   
			 Heerema (Hartlepool) UK  
			 SLP UK  
			 McNulty Offshore UK  
			 Burntisland Fabricators UK November 2003 
			 Swan Hunter UK  
			 HBG Holland  
			 BLADT Denmark  
			
			 Production Deck   
			 AMEC UK  
			 Dragados Spain December 2003 
			 Aker Kvaerner Norway  
			 Heerema (Hartlepool) UK  
			
			 Utilities and Quarters Deck  
			 AMEC UK  
			 Dragados Spain  
			 Aker Kvaerner Norway  
			 Heerema (Hartlepool) UK December 2003

Civil Partnerships Bill

Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the effects extending the provisions of the Civil Partnerships Bill to heterosexual couples.

Jacqui Smith: holding answer 13 January 2004
	Civil partnership is aimed at same-sex couples who cannot obtain full legal recognition of their relationships. Opposite-sex couples can achieve this through marriage. There can be no real benefit of extending to opposite-sex couples the right to achieve legal recognition of their relationships when they already enjoy that opportunity.

Company Liquidation

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many companies went into liquidation in 2003.

Gerry Sutcliffe: Annual insolvency figures for 2003 are not yet available. The insolvencies press release for the fourth quarter of 2003 will be published on Friday 6 February at 9:30 am.
	The seasonally adjusted figures for the first three quarters of 2003 are shown in the following table:
	
		Company insolvencies in England and Wales in 2003  -- Seasonally adjusted
		
			 Quarter Total Compulsory liquidations Creditors voluntary liquidations 
		
		
			 Q1 3,672 1,540 2,132 
			 Q2 3,825 1,416 2,409 
			 Q3(13) 3,398 1,153 2,245 
		
	
	(13) Provisional.

Distance Selling

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what measures she is taking to inform consumers about their rights concerning distance selling.

Gerry Sutcliffe: Online information is available from my Department's website and from the Consumer Gateway (www2.consumer.gov.uk/consumer web/e-shopping.htm), which provides links to a variety of websites that will help consumers make informed decisions about buying goods and services.
	On 29 December DTI published guidance about buying from internet auction sites, and on 22 January the Department began a consultation on changes to the Distance Selling Regulations, including a proposal to clarify what suppliers must tell consumers about their cancellation rights.
	DTFs Safe Internet Shopping campaign, launched in 2001, promotes wider access to information on e-commerce. Guidance has been delivered through TV and radio, and over the internet in partnership with private sector organisations such as Microsoft, Sainsbury's, Freeserve and Expedia. Hard copy information has been distributed through Citizens Advice Bureaux and libraries. The Office of Fair Trading also provides information on internet shopping and distance contracts more generally, on its website and through consumer roadshows.
	In addition, Consumer Direct will offer advice to consumers by telephone, by e-mail or on the web. The service is likely to begin in three pathfinder areas this Summer and is expected to be operating nationally by 2007.

Energy Policy

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent discussions she has had with the Russian Government on securing a supply of gas to the UK.

Stephen Timms: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry discussed gas issues with Russian Government during the "Russia-UK Energy Conference: Long Term Partners" held in June last year, during President Putin's State visit. During the visit, she had a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Kudrin where a wide range of issues were discussed.
	Also at the conference, I signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Igor Yusufov, Minister for Energy for the Russian Federation, in which the UK and Russia agreed to work closely together on the North European Gas Pipeline project.

Export Credits Guarantee Department

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many valid applications have been received for the renewable energy initiative of the Export Credits Guarantee Department; which have been successful; what the (a) company involved, (b) amount allocated, (c) project type and (d) form of renewable energy concerned is for each successful application; and what the maximum liability is.

Mike O'Brien: Since the announcement of the renewables initiative ECGD has received 24 inquiries, nine of which required and were given preliminary indications of cover for business in prospect. So far none of these have progressed to the stage of becoming firm business.

Gas (Northern Ireland)

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the average bill for domestic gas consumers in Northern Ireland who pay for gas by (a) direct debit, (b) quarterly credit and (c) prepayment meter was in the last year for which figures are available.

Stephen Timms: The average bill for domestic gas consumers in Northern Ireland at current 2004 prices for the various payment methods is as follows:
	
		
			 Payment method Bill (£ per annum) 
		
		
			 Direct Debit 377 
			 Quarterly credit 398 
			 Prepayment meter 402 
		
	
	Note:
	(14) Figures are calculated using an annual consumption of 18,000 kWh, and are inclusive of VAT.
	(15) Figures relate to prices charged by Phoenix Natural Gas, the sole domestic gas supplier for Northern Ireland.
	Source:
	Phoenix Natural Gas

Investment

James Arbuthnot: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what information she collates on the investment levels of small and medium enterprises of other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development states in Asian countries.

Nigel Griffiths: This information is not collected by HMG since this would involve tracking each individual company and therefore be a disproportionate cost to obtain the information.

National Business Angels Network

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the budget was of the National Business Angels Network for each year since its inception; and what the anticipated budget is for each year until 2006–07.

Nigel Griffiths: holding answer 27 January 2004
	The National Business Angels Network is a private company, which has received the following funding from the DTI:
	
		
			  £ 
		
		
			 2000–01 340,000 
			 2001–02 250,000 
			 2002–03 200,000 
			 2003–04 200,000 
			 2004–05 (16)150,000 
			 2005–06 (16)150,000 
		
	
	(16) Subject to upward-only review up to a maximum of £200,000

National Power Provision

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what powers exist to penalise power companies whose service suffers from persistent power cut problems.

Stephen Timms: Both my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority have powers to penalise power companies whose service suffers from persistent power interruptions.
	The DTI's Engineering Inspectorate has powers under Regulation 34 of The Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations 2002, to impose actions on a company to improve its service. The Inspectorate may take action if there is evidence to suggest that repeated interruptions to supply are occurring and that no remedial measures have been taken.
	The Gas and Electricity Markets Authority has powers under the Electricity Act 1989 to investigate whether a licence holder has breached the conditions of its licence, and if so, whether remedial action (such as a financial penalty) is appropriate. The Authority may impose a penalty upon a licence holder when it is satisfied that a licence holder is contravening or has contravened any relevant condition or requirement. No penalty imposed may exceed 10 per cent. of the turnover of the licence holder.

National Power Provision

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many power cuts there were in each of the last five years in (a) Howden, (b) Anlaby, (c) Willerby, (d) North Cave, (e) South Cave, (f) Kirk Ella, (g) Cottingham, (h) Eastrington, (i) Brough, (j) North Ferriby, (k) Swanland and (l) Holme Upon Spalding Moor.

Stephen Timms: It has not been possible for Yorkshire Electricity Distribution Limited (YEDL) to collate all the information sought within a short timescale.
	I will respond to the right hon. Member in writing when I have received a full report from YEDL.

National Power Provision

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the power consumption of the United Kingdom was in each of the last 25 years.

Stephen Timms: Available data are shown in the following table.
	
		TWh
		
			  Total electricity consumption 
		
		
			 1978 231.42 
			 1979 242.00 
			 1980 231.11 
			 1981 227.21 
			 1982 222.82 
			 1983 226.09 
			 1984 230.96 
			 1985 241.85 
			 1986(17) 249.34 
			 1986(17) 259.82 
			 1987 268.38 
			 1988 274.50 
			 1989 279.40 
			 1990 284.42 
			 1991 290.84 
			 1992 291.45 
			 1993 295.75 
			 1994 292.83 
			 1995 303.92 
			 1996 319.78 
			 1997 321.07 
			 1998 325.35 
			 1999 332.05 
			 2000 340.30 
			 2001 342.78 
			 2002 343.83 
		
	
	(17) Prior to 1986 the consumption figures are based on electricity supplied from major power producers, transport undertakings and industrial hydro and nuclear stations only. From 1986 the consumption figures are based on electricity supplied from all generating companies.

National Power Provision

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much compensation for loss of power was paid by power companies to customers in each of the last five years, broken down by individual power company.

Stephen Timms: Payments made under Guaranteed Standards of Performance following loss of power were as follows.
	
		
			  1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2002–03 storms compensation 
		
		
			 Aquila 0 0 400 0 0 542,650 
			 EME 150 30 100 0 350 44,820 
			 EPN 390 85 1,150 0 0 1,155,800 
			 Hydro 0 120 0 0 0  
			 LPN 150 66,920 650 100 0  
			 NEDL 385,650 0 16,050 750 250  
			 SP 0 0 6,425 3,150 7,900  
			 SPN 0 12,660 100 0 0 3,725 
			 Southern 0 60 100 0 0 2,000 
			 SP Manweb 0 0 8,150 4,300 12,625 157,575 
			 UU 628,520 240 6,250 2,800 100  
			 WPD S. Wales 0 30 400 0 0 (18)1,300 
			 WPD S. West 0 0 0 0 0  
			 YEDL 180 0 4,075 2,450 0  
		
	
	(18) WPD S. Wales payment relates to total paid by WPD S Wales and WPD S. West. From April 2000 payment in respect of first payment due increased from £30 to £50 and period triggering payment reduced from 24 to 18 hours.

National Power Provision

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps she is taking to ensure that power companies give adequate compensation to customers who suffer from power cuts.

Stephen Timms: This is a matter for the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem). As part of its distribution price control review, which is presently under way, Ofgem is reviewing the standards of performance under which compensation payments are made.
	As the next price control is not implemented until April 2005, with two winter periods before then, Ofgem has recently introduced interim arrangements for compensation in severe weather conditions. The aim of these arrangements is to ensure that the basis for compensation is clear and that customers who have valid claims are paid out quickly after the event. Under the new arrangements, for all but the most extreme events, customers who make a valid claim for compensation will be entitled to £25 if they are off supply for more than 48 hours plus £25 for each additional 12 hour period up to a maximum payment of £200.
	Under normal weather conditions, the Guaranteed Standards of Performance continue to apply and a payment of £50 is triggered at 18 hours with £25 for each additional 12 hour period.

Nigeria

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to the answer of 25 June 2003, Official Report, column 798W, on the Export Credits Guarantee Department, if she will list the contracts for which Nigeria has incurred its total debt to the ECGD, stating the project type and the UK company concerned in each instance.

Mike O'Brien: The current outstanding debt on Nigeria is £4.494 billion (this figure includes interest and arrears.) Due to the high number of transactions involved (over 26,000 dating back 20 years or more), it would not be possible to identify all projects individually without incurring disproportionate cost.

Nuclear Energy

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether the confidentiality clauses at pages 88 to 90, paragraph 38 of the Nuclear Liabilities Fund Agreement covering British Energy Generation Ltd. and Newcol dated 1 October 2003 will preclude providing hon. Members with details of British Energy contracts with British Nuclear Fuels plc.

Stephen Timms: Clause 38(4) of the Nuclear Liabilities Funding Agreement provides that the Secretary of State may disclose information to Parliament to the extent that she considers that it is appropriate to do so pursuant to her duty to Parliament but, where reasonably practicable, shall consult with Newcol (the proposed successor company to British Energy under the restructuring) prior to such disclosure. Any request to the Secretary of State for disclosure of the contracts would be considered in the light of information already made available by British Energy, and Exemption 13: Third Party's Commercial Confidences of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

Defence Facilities

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to her answer of 12 January 2004, Official Report, columns 505–06W, whether any visits by safeguards inspectors have been made to military nuclear facilities; and what the (a) dates and (b) purposes were of the visits.

Stephen Timms: As indicated in the previous answer, there are and have been no safeguards inspections at UK defence nuclear facilities. Senior officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency (the IAEA) did take up an invitation from the UK to visit such a facility in 1993 to discuss UK support for the use of sampling and measurement techniques which had the potential to help strengthen the IAEA safeguards regime as a whole.

Political Risk Insurance

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the length of time is within which the Export Credits Guarantee Department must appraise whether a claim will be paid on political risk insurance.

Mike O'Brien: Under the terms of ECGD's insurance products, in order for ECGD to assess whether a claim will or will not be paid, evidence must be provided by the Insured to demonstrate to ECGD's satisfaction that an insured loss has occurred. There is no fixed time limit on this process although the Insured must notify its intention to make a claim within a set period, which is three months for Overseas Investment Insurance Policy and 12 months for Export Insurance Policy and Bond Insurance Policy.
	Under its financing products, ECGD will normally pay claims including interest to the financing banks following notification of default. Claims are normally paid three months after the due date of payment of the defaulted amount.

Postal Services

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps the Government are taking to implement postal competition in line with EU requirements set out in COM (2004) 29.

Stephen Timms: The UK has set an end date for the full opening of the UK postal market by 31 March 2007. Market opening is proceeding in three phases to allow Royal Mail to prepare for competition and for potential entrants to prepare to enter the market.
	The first phase, which started in January 2003, provides three possible entry routes for new entrants designed to open up 30 per cent. of the UK letter market (by revenue). In phase two, from 1 April 2005, Postcomm intends to open another 30 per cent. of the mails market (by revenue) by increasing the proportion of the bulk mail market that is open to competition. We believe that this staged approach provides Royal Mail, other operators and customers with a clear end date and a simple step-by-step transition to make their plans.
	Market developments are consistent with trends in Europe, and concordant with the requirements of the EU Postal Services Directives.

Postal Services

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will break down how (a) the funding allocated to modernisation of the Post Office network, (b) her Department's financial support to Consignia, and (c) the grant-in-aid to the Consumer Council for postal services set out in her Departmental Report 2003 was allocated for 2003–04.

Stephen Timms: The funding provision for 2003–04 for postal services as published in my Department's Departmental Report 2003 is:
	(a) £90 million allocated to modernisation of the Post Office network in support for the urban post office network reinvention programme to fund the compensation payment terms negotiated between Post Office Ltd. (POL) and the National Federation of SubPostmasters and the investment grant package;
	(b) The DTI has provided a loan facility to POL (a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Mail Group plc) to enable it to fund its working capital requirements. This is primarily to ensure that there is sufficient cash in post offices to meet benefit payment and other cash needs. POL's cash used to be pre-funded by the Department for Work and Pensions but the pre-funding will decline as benefits are paid directly into recipients' accounts and POL still needs to have the cash available for benefits to be paid in cash. The loan facility package is designed on commercial lines in terms of interest and commitment charges and administration fees;
	(c) The provision of £7.810 million is based on the Consumer Council for Postal Services (CCPS) actual budget expenditure for 2001–02. The actual budget agreed for 2003–04 is £9.905 million. The breakdown of how the funding was allocated for 2003–04 will be published in the CCPS financial report on 30 July 2004.

Power Stations (Wales)

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the power stations in Wales and their (a) maximum operating capacity and (b) average operating capacity over the last year.

Stephen Timms: Power stations in Wales owned by major power producers along with their installed capacities as at the end of May 2003 are listed as follows:
	
		
			 Station Fuel Installed capacity (MW) 
		
		
			 Aberthaw B Coal-fired 1,455 
			 Aberthaw GT Gas oil 51 
			 Barry Gas-CCGT 250 
			 Connahs Quay Gas-CCGT 1,380 
			 Cwm Dyli Hydro 10 
			 Deeside Gas-CCGT (19)250 
			 Dinorwig Pumped storage 1,728 
			 Dolgarrog Hydro 37 
			 Ffestiniog Pumped Storage 360 
			 Fifoots Point Coal (20)393 
			 Maentwrog Hydro 20 
			 Rheidol Hydro 50 
			 Wylfa Nuclear 980 
		
	
	(19) Excludes a further 250 MW that was mothballed, but brought back into service at the end of 2003.
	(20) In receivership and not operating at that time but subsequently leased by Innogy for winter 2003–04 operations.
	Source
	Digest of UK Energy Statistics 2003, Table 5.10
	Operational data for individual power stations are matters for the operating companies themselves and are not collected centrally. In total, generation by the stations listed above in 2002 was 30,459 GWh. It is estimated that the aggregate plant load factor for these stations 4 per cent. for the UK as a whole.

Project Funding

Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what funding has been provided by her Department to finance (a) the UK High Technology Fund, (b) the Quality Mark Scheme, (c) the Inside UK Enterprise Scheme, (d) the Construction Line Programme, (e) the Basic Technologies Programme, (f) the Construction Best Practice Programme and (g) the Foresight Programme in each financial year since the inception of each; what funding has been allocated to finance each scheme in future financial years; and if she will estimate the extent to which businesses have benefited from each initiative to date.

Patricia Hewitt: The following table shows the level of funding provided to 2002–03; and, the projected spend in future years.
	
		Expenditure (£ million)
		
			  UK High Technology Fund Quality Mark Inside UK Enterprise Construction Line Basic Technologies Construction Best Practice(22) Foresight 
		
		
			 1998–99 — — n/a — — n/a 1.4 
			 1999–2000 3.0 — n/a — — n/a 2.8 
			 2000–01 17.0  n/a — — n/a 4.8 
			 2001–02 0 (21) , (22)6.7 n/a 0.2 — 2.1 2.2 
			 2002–03 0  1.2 0.2 — 2.7 1.0 
			 2003–04 0 2.0 1.2 0 0.6 2.6 1.8 
			 2004–05 0 0 0 0 2.8 0 0 
			 2005–06 0 0 0 0 2.4 0 0 
			 2006–07 0 0 0 0 2.0 0 0 
			 2007–08 0 0 0 0 0.3 0 0 
		
	
	(21) Combined expenditure 2000–03
	(22) Funded by former DETR 1998—June 2001
	Notes:
	1. Some historic expenditure data has been omitted from this reply due to the disproportionate cost of providing it.
	2. Forecast expenditure reflects outstanding legal and contractual obligations.
	3. All figures have been rounded to the nearest £100,000
	Benefits to Business (a) UK High Technology Fund The UK High Technology fund has stimulated private sector investments of £106.1 million, against a target of £105 million, significantly increasing the amount of finance available for investment in technology-based businesses. From the total fund of £126.1million (which includes DTI investment of £20 million), over £123 million of this has, to date, been committed to nine specialist venture capital funds. These venture capital funds have in turn made investments in over 130 technology-based companies throughout the UK. (b) Quality Mark Quality Mark provides a competitive edge for accredited tradespeople by improving the information available to consumers. (c) Inside UK Enterprise In the three years to 2002, Inside UK Enterprise helped users to increase sales by around £175 million and increase profit margins by around £135 million. (d) Constructionline Constructionline streamlines procurement procedures and cuts costs by supplying the construction industry and its clients with a single national pre-qualification scheme. (e) Basic Technologies The first projects to be supported by this programme commenced in mid-2003. It is too early to estimate the benefits to businesses. (f) Construction Best Practice In 2002, businesses using Construction Best Practice increased profitability by £56 million—28 times the cost of running the scheme. Productivity also improved with each user saving an average of 12 days and £3,300. This equates to a total of £8.5 million and 60,000 days saved. It is currently estimated that in 2003, users increased their profitability by more than £100 million. (g) Foresight Between 1994 and 2001 the Foresight Programme helped Government, Research Organisations and Business prepare for the future by helping to identify potential threats and opportunities over the coming 10 to 20 years. New partnerships have been forged between business and the science base and across all sectors and disciplines to change the way business and the science base relate to each other and to the future. Organisations such as Research Councils, Training Organisations, other Government Departments and education funding bodies used the results of Foresight to set priorities for the benefit of business.

Public Bodies (Membership)

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry who the members of the (a) Post Office Users Council for Scotland, (b) Post Office Users Council for Northern Ireland, (c) Post Office Users Council for Wales, (d) English Advisory Committee on Telecommunications and (e) Scottish Advisory Committee on Telecommunications were on 1 January; what their term of office is in each case; and what their remuneration is.

Stephen Timms: In 2001 the former Post Office Users National Council was replaced by a new Consumer Council of Postal Services, known as Postwatch. The Postwatch Council is made up of the Chairs of nine Regional Postwatch Committees and four national Council members, operating under a National Chairman. Full details of all Council members and their remuneration are set out in the Postwatch Annual Report. Currently the Northern Ireland, Scottish and Welsh committees are chaired by, respectively John Stringer, Tom Begg and Eifon Pritchard. The remuneration for the Regional Chairs is based on an average annual rate of £20,500 per annum for two days per week; with some working for two and a half and some three days per week.
	The Advisory Committees on Telecommunications effectively ceased to exist with the vesting of Ofcom on 29 December 2003.

Science and Society Directorate

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to her answer of 15 December 2003, Official Report, column 646W, on the Science and Society Directorate, whether the objectives of the Science and Society Directorate's Public Engagement Team include the promotion of the public understanding of cultural factors impinging on and operating within scientific communities that will help the public make informed judgments.

Patricia Hewitt: The Science and Society Directorate's Public Engagement Team promotes public awareness and engagement with all aspects of science. This includes the scientific 'process' in all its forms, for example: the setting of research priorities; peer review; the interaction of scientists within and across disciplines; the legal boundaries within which scientists operate; ethical considerations; and the lack of absolute certainty in science.
	We believe this approach helps to set the context within which the public can consider specific science related issues as they arise.

Security Passes

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many security passes have been reported (a) lost and (b) stolen by staff in her Department in the last 12 months.

Patricia Hewitt: I refer to the answer given to the right hon. Member for Winchester (Mr. Oaten) on 22 January 2004, Official Report, column 1386W.

Telecommunications Masts

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what studies have been commissioned by her Department into the safety of TETRA masts.

Stephen Timms: holding answer 29 January 2004
	My Department contributes to the Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research Programme (MTHR), which includes studies looking at TETRA technology. The Home Office also has an extensive research programme. Details of the MTHR research programme can be found at www.mthr.org.uk and the Home Office at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/docs/tetra.html

UK Business Online

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the closure of UK Business Online.

Stephen Timms: In November 2002, the Secretary of State announced that business support was to be radically restructured as a result of feedback from key stakeholders. Rather than being closed, therefore, UK online for business will be integrated into mainstream DTI and Business Link, from April onwards. The aim is to make it simpler for businesses to access the support that DTI provides and to make the support more effective.
	While the UK online for business brand will therefore be discontinued, ICT support and promotion will nevertheless remain a key focus for DTI.

Unfair Dismissal

Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what advice her Department has given to small firms about unfair dismissal rules introduced under the Employment Act 2002.

Gerry Sutcliffe: Part 3 of the Employment Act 2002 set out a framework of new minimum statutory dismissal and disciplinary and grievance procedures, and also made some changes to the law on unfair dismissal and on employment particulars. The detailed operation of disciplinary and grievance procedures was left to be specified via secondary legislation. This was laid before Parliament on 20 January 2004, and is anticipated to come into force on 1 October 2004.
	All employers, regardless of size, will normally be required to follow these minimum procedures before dismissing employees—failure to do so may result in a tribunal finding the dismissal automatically unfair. In addition, in ordinary unfair dismissal cases, the employment tribunals will continue to take account of the Acas Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures in deciding whether or not an employer acted reasonably in dismissing. Acas launched this month a public consultation on a revised version of their Code of Practice.
	The Government will put in hand an extensive guidance and advice campaign in good time for implementation, in consultation with small firms and other advisory organisations. This will inform employers and employees as necessary of the new rights and responsibilities created by this part of the Employment Act.

Utilities Act

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry under which provisions of the Utilities Act 2000 she is prevented from making public the findings of the Engineering Inspectorate of its inquiry into the power failures in London and Birmingham; and if she will make a statement.

Stephen Timms: holding answer 27 January 2004
	Section 105 of the Utilities Act 2000 places general restrictions on the disclosure of information relating to the affairs of any individual or to any particular business obtained by virtue of the provisions of the Act, Part I of the Gas Act 1986 or Part I of the Electricity Act 1989 during the lifetime of the individual or so long as the business continues.
	Disclosure is permissible with the consent of the individual or the person for the time being carrying on the business. Disclosure is also permitted in limited circumstances, for example where it is necessary for the purpose of facilitating the performance of certain functions of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry or regulatory authorities or where it is required by a licence holder in order to fulfil a condition of his licence.
	Section 105 makes unauthorised disclosure of information obtained under the 2000 Act, or under Part I of the 1986 Act or Part I of the 1989 Act, a criminal offence.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Attendance Allowance Claims

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of attendance allowance claims, processed since the new claim pack was introduced in October 2003, have been subject to appeal.

Chris Pond: pursuant to his reply, 7 January 2004, c. 458W
	The information given contained an inaccuracy in one of the figures; that of the number of decisions made in November 2003. The correct information is tabled as follows.
	The following information shows the number of decisions made on new Attendance Allowance claims in the months of October and November 2003 and the number of Attendance Allowance appeals registered in the same months. Decisions appealed in October and November will contain a mix of claims made on the old and new forms. No separate data are available.
	
		
			  October 2003 November 2003 
		
		
			 Decisions made 35,111 30,521 
			 Appeals registered 1,213 1,120 
			 Percentage 3.45 3.67

Child Poverty

Andy King: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what percentage of children are living in poverty, using the (a) absolute low income, (b) relative low income and (c) material deprivation indicators announced in his Department's report, Measuring Child Poverty; and if he will give this information for (i) before and (ii) after housing costs for (A) 1998 and (B) 2001 for (1) the UK, (2) England, broken down by region, (3) Scotland, (4) Wales and (5) Northern Ireland.

Chris Pond: The requested figures for absolute and relative low income are available from: "Households Below Average Income—An analysis of the income distribution for 1994–95 to 2001–02". This analysis covers Great Britain only; no data are available for Northern Ireland.
	'Measuring Child Poverty', published in December 2003, outlines the Government's measure of UK child poverty for the long term; this new measure will begin from 2004–05. It also states that data for material deprivation will not be collected on the Family Resources Survey until the 2004–05 sample, and not available for full analysis until 2006.
	All publications listed are available in the Library.

Child Poverty

Andy King: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate (a) how many and (b) what percentage of children will be living in poverty in (i) 2004–05, (ii) 2010 and (iii) 2020, (A) before and (B) after housing costs, broken down by nation and region of the UK.

Chris Pond: Pre-Budget report 2003 announced that the child element of the Child Tax Credit would increase by £180 to £1,625 a year, equivalent to a weekly increase of £3.50. This increase will benefit 7.2 million children in 3.7 million families. As a result of this investment the Government are on track to meet or exceed its PSA target to reduce by a quarter the number of children in low income-households by 2004–05 on a Before Housing Costs (BHC) basis. The target is more challenging on an After Housing Costs (AHC) basis, although the nature of the target means there are uncertainties either way.
	Forecasting how many children will be in relative low income in future years is problematic. Any estimate is dependent on forecasting median household income growth from 2001–02 (the latest available data). This itself is dependent on a number of factors, including the rate of earnings growth, demographic changes, changes in household composition and employment patterns, and changes to the tax and benefit system. Consequently, there is inherent uncertainty in any estimates produced, which is exacerbated the further into the future one attempts to model. For this reason, while our estimates allow us to provide a broad indication of progress towards the 2004–05 PSA target to inform policy decisions, point estimates are not sufficiently robust to be put in the public domain.
	Independent analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies suggests that the increase in Child Tax Credit will enable the Government to make substantial progress on both elements of the PSA. This extra investment will also enable the Government to make progress step by step towards their goal to halve child poverty by 2010 and eradicate it by 2020.

Departmental Office (Hebburn)

Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people are employed in the Department's offices in Hebburn; and how many of those are residents of south Tyneside.

Maria Eagle: The Department has 51 staff working in Hebburn of these eight have postcodes indicating a south Tyneside home address.

Departmental Office (Hebburn)

Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the age profile is of the people employed in the Department's offices in Hebburn.

Maria Eagle: The age profile of the staff working in the Department's offices in Hebburn is shown in the table.
	
		
			 Age group Number of staff in age group 
		
		
			 Under 20 0 
			 21–30 6 
			 31–40 14 
			 41–50 22 
			 51+ 9 
			 Total 51

Departmental Office (Hebburn)

Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the annual running costs are of the Department's offices in Hebburn; and when the offices are due for closure.

Maria Eagle: Inland Revenue is the major occupier of the Reyrolle Building in Hebburn. The amount to be paid by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) towards annual running costs for the building is estimated to be £395,701 for the year from April 2003 to March 2004.
	The lease is due to expire in June 2006. It is anticipated that DWP staff will be relocated before then.

Industrial Injury Disablement Benefit

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the procedures are for claiming industrial injury disablement benefit; and if he will list the claim forms required.

Des Browne: A person wishing to claim Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB) in respect of an industrial accident or a prescribed disease should, in respect of an industrial accident, fill in Bl 100A and, in respect of prescribed diseases, Bl 100B for all diseases apart from Chronic Bronchitis and Emphysema (Bl 100C); Allergic Rhinitis (Bl 100E); Occupational Asthma (Bl 1000A); Occupational Deafness (Bl 1000D); and Pneumoconiosis, Byssinosis or asbestos related diseases (Bl 100PN).
	An appropriate advice leaflet from the series SD6/7/8 will also be sent; a person wishing to claim IIDB should complete the appropriate form and forward it without delay to their local Social Security office.
	Copies of all forms referred to are in the Library.

Information Technology

Richard Allan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what cost savings have been made in his Department since the introduction of the Information Technology procurement Centre of Excellence; and how these were calculated.

Maria Eagle: Centres of Excellence were established in the Department for Work and Pensions in June 2003 to integrate the essential functions which underpin the successful delivery of all types of acquisition based programmes and projects. As cost benefits will not accrue until improvements start to take effect it is too early to measure cost savings. All Centres of Excellence are currently developing future plans and as part of this process measurement of savings will be defined.

Publicity Campaigns

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much (a) his Department and (b) each agency and non-departmental public body sponsored by his Department spent on (i) advertising and (ii) information campaigns in each year since 1995–96; what his estimate is for 2003–04; and if he will make a statement.

Maria Eagle: holding answer 21 January 2004
	The Department for Work and Pensions was formed in June 2001. Between that date and March 2003, the Department spent a total of £35,031,354 alerting people to their rights, responsibilities and entitlements through information campaigns. Of this sum, £18,788,328 was spent on advertising using television, radio, cinema and press media. Expenditure by the Department, broken down by year is in the table.
	The Department's agencies and non-departmental bodies use advertising for various reasons, ranging from public information and recruitment to advertising opening hours of local offices. On each occasion, national and/or regional media may be used as well as various local newspapers. A breakdown of expenditure by agency and non-departmental public body could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	
		£
		
			  Total publicity costs Advertising costs 
		
		
			 June 2001 to March 2002 22,727,979 13,787,594 
			 April 2002 to March 2003 12,303,375 5,000,734 
			 Total 35,031,354 18,788,328 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Machinery of Government changes during the period 1997 to 2001 mean that like-for-like figures are not obtainable without disproportionate cost. During this time communications activity was accounted for under different systems in the agencies, Headquarters and the Department for Education and Employment, part of which transferred to the Department for Work and Pensions.
	2. All costs exclude VAT.
	3. Advertising costs are total publicity costs excluding all production costs.
	4. Information campaigns costing under £250,000 have not been included as a disproportionate cost would be incurred in compiling these figures.

Unclaimed Assets Register

David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much money there is in the Unclaimed Assets Register.

Maria Eagle: As Government Accounting does not explicitly require the Department to maintain a register of unclaimed assets and neither is it in the nature of DWP's business to come into contact with such items, the Department does not keep an unclaimed assets register.

US Warships (Disposal)

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether his Department has received from Able UK Ltd. reports on the condition of the visible asbestos on board the ships from the US Naval Reserve docked at Hartlepool; and if he will make a statement.

Des Browne: holding answer 19 January 2004
	DWP has not received any reports. However, in accordance with the conditions laid down by the Health and Safety Executive, Able UK arranged for an inspection to be undertaken of the visible asbestos aboard the four US Naval Reserve ships prior to the ship leaving the US. In accordance with said conditions Able UK advised HSE on 6 October for the first two ships and 17 October for the second two that the visual condition of the asbestos aboard was good. The ships docked in Hartlepool on 12, 13, 27 November and 3 December, soon after they arrived Able UK confirmed to HSE that the asbestos remained in a satisfactory condition. On 10 December inspectors from HSE made a tour of one of the ships and confirmed Able UK's report that the visual condition of the asbestos in accessible locations was good.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Criminal Justice Boards

Graham Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department further to his answer of 10 December 2003, Official Report, column 497W, on the Nottinghamshire Criminal Justice Board, whether the action plans of local criminal justice boards are being sent to local hon. Members for comment.

Paul Goggins: It is a matter for Local Criminal Justice Boards how they consult locally on their plans.
	Nottinghamshire Criminal Justice Board has not sent its plan to local hon. Members for comment. However, I understand that in the spring the Board plans to hold a consultation event on the criminal justice system for local hon. Members.

Knives

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had regarding a UK-wide amnesty on knives.

Hazel Blears: holding answer 27 January 2004
	There are presently no plans to introduce a national knives amnesty. However, we are discussing a range of issues relating to the sale and possession of knives with the Association of Chief Police Officers.

Knives

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment his Department has made of the merits of raising the age limit for the purchase of non-kitchen knives to 18 years of age.

Hazel Blears: holding answer 27 January 2004
	We are currently seeking the views of the Association of Chief Police Officers on the sale of knives.

Prison/Probation Services

Mark Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people, broken down by grade, were employed (a) at the National Probation Directorate and (b) at the headquarters of the Prison Service on the latest date available; and how many of these are (i) consultants and (ii) contractual staff.

Paul Goggins: The information requested is listed.
	Table A indicates the total establishment in the National Probation Directorate, broken down by grade and the relevant numbers of consultants and contractual staff from that establishment figure.
	Table B indicates the total establishment in the Prison Service Headquarters, broken down by grade and relevant consultant/contractual establishment from that total.
	These figures are the latest available as at 31 December 2003 and 31 October 2003 respectively.
	Projects are currently under way to substantially reduce staff within the National Probation Directorate.
	Note:The figures shown in the Contractual/Consultant columns are included in the total figure. Agency staff only included in the total column.
	
		Table A: Total National Probation Directorate staff by grade, as at 31 December 2003
		
			 Grade Staff in post 31 December 2003 Consultants within establishment Contractual staffwithin establishment 
		
		
			  
			  
			 SCS 14 0 0 
			 Grade 6 37 1 2 
			 Grade 7 96 10 10 
			 Senior Executive Officer 56 5 8 
			 Higher Executive Officer (D) 1 0 0 
			 Higher Executive Officer 49 4 1 
			 Executive Officer 65 1 0 
			 Administrative Officer 37 0 0 
			 Administrative Assistant 7 0 0 
			 Senior Personal Secretary 9 0 0 
			 Personal Secretary 15 0 0 
			 Assistant Chief Officer 12 0 0 
			 Senior Probation Officer 11 0 0 
			 Detective Chief Inspector 1 0 0 
			 PO5 1 0 0 
			 Psychological Assistant 2 0 0 
			 Interventions Consultants 17 17 0 
			 Electronic Monitoring Consultants 4 4 0 
			 IT Project Manager 1 — 1 
			 IT Consultants 9 9 — 
			 Total 444 51 22 
		
	
	
		Table B: Total Prison Service headquarters staff by grade, as at 31 October 2003
		
			 Grade Staff in post 31 October 2003 Consultants/contractual staff30 September 2003 
		
		
			 AA 59 16 
			 AO 368 45 
			 Assistant Information Officer 1 0 
			 EO 418 16 
			 Farm and Gardens Grades 1 0 
			 Governor 5 1 0 
			 HEO(D) 2 0 
			 Industrial 63 4 
			 Manager E 304 9 
			 Manager F 314 12 
			 Manager G 161 4 
			 Nursing Grades 2 0 
			 OSG 11 0 
			 Personal Secretary 79 6 
			 Principal Officer 87 1 
			 Principal Officer IDS 3 0 
			 Prison Officer 52 0 
			 Prof and Tech Officer 10 0 
			 Psychological Assistant 26 1 
			 Psychologist 15 0 
			 Scientific Officer 1 0 
			 Senior Civil Servant 42 1 
			 Senior Manager A 17 0 
			 Senior Manager B 55 0 
			 Senior Manager C 27 0 
			 Senior Manager D 236 3 
			 Senior Officer 68 0 
			 Senior Officer IDS 1 0 
			 Senior Personal Secretary 12 1 
			 Storeperson/Officer 6 0 
			 Support Band 1 1 0 
			 Support Band 2 12 0 
			 Technical Officer 1 0 
			 Typist 16 3 
			 Total 2,472 122

Prisons (Foreign Nationals)

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals due for detention in (a) Yarls Wood and (b) other specialist immigration detention centres have been imprisoned in the prison estate in the past (i) 12 months and (ii) 24 months.

Beverley Hughes: holding answer 26 January 2004
	Information on individuals detained in Prison Service establishments who were due to be detained in Immigration Removal Centres and on the number of individuals detained over a period is not available except by examination of individual case files at disproportionate cost.
	The latest available data on the number of persons detained solely under Immigration Act 2002 powers relate to 27 September 2003. As at that date, 190 people were recorded as being detained in Prison Service establishments.
	The figure of 190 may include individuals who are held pending deportation after completion of custodial sentences. Although the routine use of Prison Service accommodation for immigration detainees ended at the beginning of 2002, it may be necessary to continue to hold some individuals in Prison Service accommodation for reasons of security and control. Such decisions are taken on a case-by-case basis.
	Information on Immigration Act 2002 detainees as at 27 December 2003 is due to be published at the end of February on the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate website at: http://www. homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html

Prisons (Foreign Nationals)

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the (a) shortest and (b) longest period is that an individual due for detention in a specialist immigration detention centre has spent in detention in the prison estate; and what procedures are being implemented to ensure that immigrants who have not been convicted or accused of a crime or offence are not detained in the prison estate.

Beverley Hughes: holding answer 26 January 2004
	I regret it is not clear exactly what figures the hon. Member is requesting and therefore I cannot say if they are available or not.
	The routine use of prisons to hold immigration detainees ended at the beginning of 2002. However, in ending the routine use of prisons to hold detainees, it was made clear that there would continue to be a need to hold small numbers of individual detainees in prison for reasons of security and control. That remains the case.

Remand Fostering Schemes

David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how much his Department has spent on remand fostering schemes in each year since 1998;
	(2)  how many remand fostering schemes there are.

Paul Goggins: Remand fostering in England and Wales is funded by local social services departments and neither the Home Office nor the Youth Justice Board hold central information on them. However, some foster placements contribute to bail support and supervision schemes for young people which are sponsored by the Youth Justice Board.
	The National Children's Homes (NCH) Wessex Community Remand Project is the largest example. This successful project provides remand fostering for the Wessex Youth Offending Team covering Hampshire, Portsmouth, the Isle of Wight and Southampton. Carers work with a variety of young defendants, most charged with more than two offences including violent and sexual offences and arson. The Home Office sees such schemes as important to the development of intensive community supervision for juveniles.

UK Entry Numbers

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many people entered the UK from Sweden in the latest year for which figures are available;
	(2)  how many people entered the UK from Bolivia in the latest year for which figures are available;
	(3)  how many people entered the UK from Jamaica in the latest year for which figures are available.

Beverley Hughes: The latest available information shows that a total of 62,300 Jamaican nationals were admitted to the United Kingdom during 2002.
	I regret that is not possible to identify nationals of Bolivia separately in our admission statistics.
	Also, admission statistics are not collated on Swedish nationals. European Economic Area (EEA) nationals are free to enter the United Kingdom without requiring leave to do so. EEA nationals are therefore not included in statistics on border control.
	Data on passengers given leave to enter the United Kingdom are published in the Command Paper 'Control of Immigration: Statistics United Kingdom 2002' (Cm6053), obtainable from the House Library, The Stationery Office and via the Home Office website http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/hobpubs1.html

Work Permits

David Clelland: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what conditions relate to the issuing of work permits to nationals of countries in the Indian sub-continent.

Beverley Hughes: There are no specific conditions applied through the work permit arrangements in respect of India or any other individual country. Work permits are issued to foreign nationals to come to work in the UK where an application by a UK employer has met the published criteria.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Cambridgeshire County Council

Jonathan Djanogly: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister 
	(1)  what the Government grant for Cambridgeshire County Council (a) was in 2003–04 and (b) will be in 2004–05.
	(2)  whether the actual grant payable to Cambridgeshire County Council for 2004–05 has increased in comparison with the current budgetary year.

Nick Raynsford: The table as follows shows the amount of grant received by Cambridgeshire County Council in 2003–04 together with the amount that will be paid in 2004–05.
	
		£ million
		
			  2003–04 2004–05 
		
		
			 Revenue Support Grant 139.766 161.288  
			 Redistributed Business Rates 148.375 140.759 
			 Formula Grant 288.141 302.047 
		
	
	It is inappropriate to directly compare the amount of grant received by Cambridgeshire County Council in 2003–04 with that received in 2004–05 as there have been a number of changes in the functions of councils and the financing of particular services. This includes the change in the financing of combined fire authorities in England, which will become major precepting authorities on 1 April 2004. The table as follows shows the changes to grant on a like-for-like basis.
	
		
			  Adjucted 2003–04 2004–05 Change Percentage  
			  (£ million) (£ million) (£ million) change 
		
		
			 Revenue Support Grant 137.040 161.288 24.249 17.7 
			 Redistributed Business Rates 142.756 140.759 -1.997 -1.4 
			 Formula Grant 279.796 302.047 22.252 8.0

Electoral Pilots

John Pugh: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the cost of (a) consultation, (b) reports and (c) publications was in relation to the Electoral Commission's recommendations for electoral pilots of whole regions for the municipal and European elections in 2004.

Nick Raynsford: This a matter for the independent Electoral Commission which reports directly to Parliament through the Speaker's Committee.

European Regional Funding

Ann Winterton: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the criteria were for obtaining European Regional Funding for the 2000 to 2006 period; and what the criteria are for the 2007 to 2013 period.

Nick Raynsford: The criteria for obtaining European Regional Funding for 2000–06 were:
	Objective 1—Areas corresponding with the EC's NUTS II level, with per capita GDP less than 75 per cent. of the EU average
	Objective 2—Regions with structural problems requiring socio-economic conversion, including, in particular, the industrial and service sectors, declining rural areas, urban areas in difficulty and depressed areas dependent on fisheries.
	Negotiations on the criteria for 2007–13 have not yet commenced with the European Commission.

European Regional Funding

Ann Winterton: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the criteria are for organisations to obtain European Regional Funding.

Nick Raynsford: To obtain European Regional Funding, organisations must submit good quality projects, which meet the objectives and priorities, plus the project eligibility and selection criteria set out in the relevant Single Programming Document and Programme Complement for that particular area.

European Regional Funding

Ann Winterton: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether the criteria for obtaining (a) 2000 to 2006 and (b) 2007 to 2013 period European Regional Funding are based on (i) regional and (ii) national data.

Nick Raynsford: The eligible areas for European Regional Funding for 2000–06 were based on both regional and national data.
	It is too early to speculate on the likely criteria for selecting areas for 2007–13.

European Regional Funding

Ann Winterton: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether European Regional Funding has to comply with EU state aid rules.

Nick Raynsford: Yes. European Regional Funding has to comply with the EU state aid rules.

European Regional Funding

Ann Winterton: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether European Regional Funding figures are quoted for (a) a seven-year period and (b) annually.

Nick Raynsford: Yes. For the current 2000–06 round of programmes, European Regional Funding allocations are set out in the Single Programming Documents both annually and for the seven-year period. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister also holds both seven-year and annual figures at the overall English level.

European Regional Funding

Ann Winterton: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether the proposed regional assemblies would be responsible to (a) Parliament and (b) the EU for European Regional Funding.

Nick Raynsford: The arrangements for the future management of European Regional Funding programmes have not yet been finalised. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister would expect the proposed Regional Assemblies to play a leading role, but that precise role has yet to be defined.

European Regional Funding

Ann Winterton: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much Objective One money has been allocated to the (a) Yorkshire and Humber Region, (b) North West Region and (c) North East Region in the current financial year, broken down by area.

Nick Raynsford: The Objective 1 programmes operate to a calendar year and the allocations for 2003 and 2004 are as follows:
	
		Euro million
		
			  2003 2004 
		
		
			 South Yorkshire 170 150 
			 Merseyside 193 171 
		
	
	The North East region does not qualify for Objective 1 funding.

European Regional Funding

Ann Winterton: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what projections he has made of the level of Objective One money likely to be given to the (a) Yorkshire and Humber Region, (b) North West Region and (c) North East Region for the 2007–13 period.

Nick Raynsford: None, at this stage. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is still awaiting proposals from the European Commission on their priorities for the future allocation of the Structural Funds.

European Regional Funding

Ann Winterton: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the criteria which need to be fulfilled for an area to obtain Objective 1 funding.

Nick Raynsford: For an area to qualify for Objective 1, it must correspond to level II of the Nomenclature of Territorial Statistical Units (NUTS level II) and have a per capita GDP less than 75 per cent. of the EU average.

Fire and Rescue Service

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the change in the number of jobs in Staffordshire Fire Service as a result of the proposed regionalisation of the Fire and Rescue Service;
	(2)  what change in the number of managerial jobs he expects to result from the regionalisation of the Fire and Rescue Service in Staffordshire.
	(3)  whom he has consulted on the plans to regionalise Staffordshire's Fire and Rescue Service;
	(4)  what discussions he has had with Staffordshire County Council on his plans to regionalise the Fire and Rescue Service;
	(5)  what discussions he has had with (a) retained and (b) full-time firefighters in Staffordshire on his plans to regionalise the Fire and Rescue Service; and what their advice was.
	(6)  under what powers he would implement the regionalisation of the Fire and Rescue Service in Staffordshire without the consent of Staffordshire county council.

Nick Raynsford: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Members for Buckingham (Mr. Bercow), for Taunton (Mr. Flook), for North Thanet (Mr. Gale), for North Wiltshire (Mr. Gray), for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr. Hammond), for South-East Cambridgeshire (Mr. Paice), for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles), for Poole (Mr. Syms) and for Spelthorne (Mr. Wilshire) on 22 January 2004, Official Report, columns 1454–1457W.

Grant Definition

Jonathan Djanogly: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what definition he uses of (a) raw grant and (b) adjusted grant in spreadsheets published by his Department on http://www.local.odpm.gov.uk/finance/0405/fandc2/index.htm.

Nick Raynsford: 2004–05 raw grant is the sum of the following items:
	The authority's share of the Distributable/Amount (Redistributed National Non-domestic Rates) calculated in accordance with section 6 of the draft Local Government Finance Report (England) 2004/05, plus
	The amount of any police grant payable to the authority calculated in accordance with section 5 of the draft Police Grant Report (England and Wales) 2004–05, plus
	Revenue Support Grant (RSG) before floors and ceilings for 2004–05.
	RSG before floors and ceilings for each authority may be calculated as follows:
	Total FSS in 2004–05 calculated in accordance with section 4 of the draft
	Local Government Finance Report 2004–05, minus
	redistributed business minus
	the result of:
	Taxbase as described Annex D of the draft Local Government Finance Report 2004/05, multiplied by
	ANCT as given in paragraph 3.4 of the draft Local Government Finance Report 2004/05, multiplied by
	the share of ANCT for the appropriate class of authority as given in Annex B of the draft Local Government Finance Report (England) 2004–05.
	2003–04 adjusted grant is the sum of the following items:
	My right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister's estimate of the authority's share of the Distributable Amount (Redistributed National Non-domestic Rates) calculated in accordance with section 6 of the Local Government Finance Report 2003–04, after adjusting for changes in the functions of councils or the financing of particular services, plus
	My right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister's estimates of the authority's share of Revenue Support Grant calculated in accordance with section 3 of the Local Government Finance Report 2003–04, after adjusting for changes in the functions of councils or the financing of particular services, plus
	My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary's estimate of the amount of any Police Grant payable to the authority for 2003–04 calculated in accordance with section 5 of the Police Grant Report (England and Wales) 2003–04, after adjusting for changes in the functions of councils or the financing of particular services.
	Further information on how the 2003–04 adjusted grants are calculated may be found at http://www. local.odpm.gov.uk/finance/0405/adjpap.pdf

Local Government

Jonathan Djanogly: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether the additional £344 million allocated to local authorities in December 2003 by the Treasury will be incorporated into the Revenue Support Grant settlement figure for future years.

Nick Raynsford: The additional £340 million which Government have made available for local authorities in 2004–05 is a one-off payment for this year. The amount of money available for local government beyond 2004–05 will be as set out in the relevant Spending Review.
	However, the extra funding put into the 2004–05 settlement will be taken into account when calculating floors and ceilings for future years.

Local Government

Jonathan Djanogly: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what his policy is on the issuing of directions to local authorities before those authorities have completed local consultations on the matters to which such directions relate; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Raynsford: The Minister for Local and Regional Government will exercise powers under section 15 of the Local Government Act 1999 and other comparable legislation when there is clear evidence that an authority is failing either to discharge its functions adequately or failing to meet its statutory obligations. Further details are set out in the Protocol on "Central government engagement in poorly performing local authorities" http://www. odpm.gov.uk/stellent/groups/odpm localgov/documents/page/odpm locgov 609124.pdf

Phone Boxes

Sarah Teather: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many derelict phone boxes there were in each London Borough at the latest date for which data is available.

Stephen Timms: I have been asked to reply.
	Policy on public call boxes is a matter for the Office of Communications (Ofcom) and I understand the Chief Executive of Ofcom will be writing to the hon. Member shortly.

Regional Assemblies

Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what representations he has received from the (a) British chambers of commerce, (b) Confederation of British Industry and (c) Institute of Directors on proposals to establish elected regional assemblies; what response he has made; and if he will place in the Library copies of the exchanges of correspondence on this issue.

Nick Raynsford: After the White Paper was published the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister received one response each from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and the British Chamber of Commerce. Each received a reply thanking them for their comments.
	The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has also received letters from a number of individual chambers of commerce.
	It is not the practice to disclose the contents of correspondence by placing it in the Library. However a summary of the responses to the White Paper "Your Region, Your Choice" are available in the Library of the House.

Regional Assemblies

Ann Winterton: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the (a) date and (b) venues were of the public consultations on the powers of the proposed regional assemblies for the (i) North West, (ii) North East and (iii) Yorkshire and the Humber.

Nick Raynsford: A series of public hearings on the powers of the proposed regional assemblies will take place across the three northern regions. The dates and venues of the hearings have yet to be decided.